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Type the phrase “Virginia Tech” into Facebook's search field and you'll be inundated with a staggering number of groups dedicated to what has been deemed the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

More than 500 groups have been created on the social networking website where people from around the world are conveying their prayers and condolences to the victims. They're also expressing rage and sadness over the attacks that left 33 dead, including the gunman, and wounded 29 more.

Less than a day after the tragedy, a group, called “A Tribute to Those who Passed at the Virginia Tech Shooting,” boasted more than 92,000 members and continued to grow.

On the group's main page, the anonymous creator says it's geared “to all those who want to pay respect to those who suffered from this horrific incident. May the kind words of others help the victims and their families find absolution in these horrific times.”

Members were encouraged to wear maroon shirts and orange ribbons — Virginia Tech's colours — to mark a day of remembrance for the victims on Tuesday.

“We want VT to know that the world is thinking of them,” the group's anonymous creator wrote.

One group, called “Always Remember Virginia Tech,” was created by a Hamilton man and had some 4,000 members.

Members from across the United States, the U.K., Croatia, Australia and Canadian cities like Winnipeg, Calgary and Halifax contributed more than 350 posts to the group's “wall,” or message board.

There were smaller threads with discussions about how stiffer gun control laws may or may not have prevented the tragedy, different ways people can help the victims and now-debunked rumours about the gunman's identity, which at the time had not been made public by police.

Later Tuesday, police identified the shooter as Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a senior from South Korea who was in the English department at Virginia Tech and lived on campus.

Members debated whether the university could have prevented the second, more deadly shooting. Two people were killed in a dorm room at 7:15 a.m. The school did not alert students until two hours later, when most of the victims — including a gunman — died in an engineering building nearly a kilometre away. Police have not said whether the two incidents were linked.

“Hindsight is always 20/20. Stop playing armchair quarterback. Like any of you could have done any better securing a campus???” wrote one member from Boston.

A high school student wrote that she thought sending out the campus-wide alert by e-mail was a poor way to get the warning across. There was an entire group dedicated to the question of whether class should have been cancelled the day after the shooting. While some of the discussions got heated, many writers urged members to be reasonable and compassionate.

One poster from India wrote a simple and poignant message, asking whether anyone has heard from one of his loved ones at Virginia Tech.

“How can I find out? Please let me know immediately,” he wrote.

Not all of the posts were constructive.

One page contained numerous epithets against Asians.

Other members discussed the existence of a group lauding the massacre, which had apparently been taken down by site administrators.

Most of the memorial pages are festooned with graphics of black or orange ribbons with phrases like “We Remember,” “You're in our thoughts and prayers,” and “Today we are all Hokies,” a reference to Virginia Tech's sports teams.

Among the reams of memorial pages are several created by Canadians, including one created by a University of Western Ontario student titled, “A tribute from Canadian students to those who passed away at Virginia Tech.” A Laurentian University student started a group called “Canada supports Virginia Tech.”

One young woman, who attends Ottawa's Algonquin College wrote: “Your northern friends (us Canadians) are deeply saddened by the events that occurred yesterday. Our hearts go out to the victims and all those affected.”

Like its predecessors Live Journal, Friendster, Hi5 and MySpace, Facebook is a wildly popular social networking website. Members can join networks based around their hometown, school or workplace. Everyone gets their own personal profile where they can add photo albums, start discussion groups and write messages on their friends' “walls.”