OAKLEY -- Like many powerful tools, social media can be used for good -- or can wreak havoc.
The unrest that struck Freedom High School over the course of four days late last month, after rumors of impending violence on the Oakley campus went viral, illustrates just how much trouble social networks like Twitter and Facebook can cause when they run amok.
Principal Erik Faulkner recently met with a group of Freedom parents to explain what led up to the worrisome but ultimately baseless threat and the turmoil -- heightened anxiety, missed meetings, time spent planning the school's response -- it created behind the scenes.
The trouble all began Oct. 30, when some administrators became aware of talk that another fight was brewing between two Freedom High gangs.
There are just seven bona fide gang members and 10 kids who hang around them on the 2,351-student campus, Faulkner said.
Despite the school's efforts to keep the Norteos and Sureos apart by imposing lunch detention on anyone caught provoking a rival, the groups recently had crossed paths when they both showed up in the quad to watch a fight between two girls.
A handful of them jumped into the fray; expulsions, suspensions and transfers followed.
Administrators then began hearing reports from a few teachers and parents that another conflict might be developing, this one possibly involving weapons. School officials began searching the student database
They also turned to the Internet, taking screen shots of students' Facebook pages and scouring Twitter conversations for the key word #Freedomshooting in search of other clues to the source and credibility of the rumor.
"Nothing turned out to be firsthand information," Faulkner said. "Every lead led nowhere."
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Freedom High School rumors offer a cautionary note on social media