In the southern Florida exurb Pembroke Pines, Abraham Biggs, a troubled 19-year-old who had apparently found some solace and friendship through an online community at BodyBuilding.com committed suicide. After posting a note listing the combination of pills he was planning on swallowing, he was urged by other forum posters to take the antidepressants so they could watch live on Justin.tv. Echoing sentiments I've expressed here previously, "[t]he case, which has prompted an outpouring of sympathy and second-guessing online, demonstrates the double-edged nature of online communities that millions of people flock to every day." A couple of pages later, there was a report on the prosecution's closing arguments in the Megan Meier cyberbulling case in Missouri.
Momentarily, I wavered on the newsworthy-ness of this type of story. It's reminiscent of the ongoing debate in San Francisco regarding the reporting of suicides from the Golden Gate Bridge. Does the publicity engender copycats? Probably some minority of people will now take it upon themselves to use the internet as a bullying mechanism or self-glorification of the most final type. But I lean to the necessity of publicizing these incidents to pull the good face of the internet back into the discussion.
Brands are encouraged to let the conversation flow in online communities so both their detractors and their fans can hop on their respective soap boxes. When bad Janus faces forward, those of us who believe in good Janus need to respond. Perhaps it's the social contract for online communities. If we let the sad tale of Mr. Biggs be this day's corollary to Kitty Genovese; let's agree not to let it happen again. R.I.P.
