EDITOR COMMENTARY
Viral Solutions
- By Sydny Shepard
- December 01, 2018
We all have a Facebook, Twitter
or LinkedIn account and we
have all seen a post go viral.
For whatever reason, despite
the topic of the post, the content is deemed
relevant by thousands, sometimes millions of
people who decide to view, comment, like and
share these posts to their timelines.
Lately, I’ve seen a trend in the virality of
campus security solutions. While I have seen
a few campus security posts before the tragic
string of violence on campuses this year, the
number of posts and the people sharing them
exponentially increased after the words “campus
security” became a bit of a buzz phrase
following the shootings in Santa Fe, Parkland
and Marshall County.
The first Facebook post I saw go viral following
the Parkland shooting was a woman
sharing a photo of a rubber door stop. While
the item looked fairly innocent in her hand,
the message she shared was disheartening.
She wrote about how she puts one of these
door stops in her nieces' backpacks because in
an emergency situation, they can be placed
under a door that swings into a classroom to
stop an active shooter from entering.
The post went viral, gaining 1.3 million
shares in just a few days. The comments
praised the woman for displaying an inexpensive
solution that could save lives, but most
were disappointed by the need of a rubber
door stop rather than effective security.
In the following months, Facebook pages
known for creating and sharing viral videos
picked up several campus security solutions
to showcase to their followers. The videos
showed in-classroom bulletproof shelters,
shatterproof glass and bullet resistant backpacks.
These solutions were widely shared,
some of them reaching over 3 million views
in a matter of days.
Why is this? It is because more people,
including teachers, parents and administration
are making the decision to find solutions
on their own. Schools are no longer waiting
for an incident to happen before they implement
effective security solutions. Campuses
themselves are actively looking and researching
security solutions that might work on
their campus. They are looking for the round
peg that fits in the round hole.
This article originally appeared in the November/December 2018 issue of Campus Security Today.
About the Author
Sydny Shepard is the Executive Editor of Campus Security & Life Safety.