The Newtown Shootings: Patch Issues Moment of Silence

Patch sites across the country will have a web moment of silence to mark the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. at 9:30 a.m. EST, 8:30 a.m. Missouri time.

What is a Web Moment of Silence?

At that hour, the website will go blank for 5 minutes. A National Moment of Silence message will be affixed to the Patch homepage, and a link will direct viewers to a website that explains ways readers can join the campaign to help Sandy Hook residents.

The Moment of Silence is web-wide spanning all lot of social media sites. More than  100,000 people have pledged not to tweet or post to Facebook, reports TechCrunch, including Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, Britney Spears, Suze Orman, Tyler Florence, Goldie Hawn, and Joe Montana.

After 5 minutes, the website operation will return to normal.

Among other sites taking part in the Web Moment of Silence are AOL, Adobe, Foursquare, Hacker News, Duke University Jawbone, and Salesforce.

Missouri Moment

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon is also encouraging Missouri residents to honor the Newtown School Shooting victims, as well as others gun violence has affected, in a moment of silence at 9:30 a.m. Missouri time.

“We are heartbroken over the loss of so many innocent lives, and this moment of silence across the country represents the sorrow deeply felt by our nation,” Nixon said in a statement Thursday. 

How will you participate? Tell us in comments.