Citizen Case Study: Shooting at YouTube Headquarters

On Tuesday, April 3rd, 2018, a woman — later identified as Nasim Aghdam — opened fire at YouTube’s San Bruno campus. Three people were injured by gunfire and the suspect died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The Citizen team alerted users and provided continuous, real-time updates as the situation unfolded — ahead of most major news outlets.

We’re breaking down our coverage of the YouTube shooting to facilitate transparency and assess what we handled well, and what we can do better the next time a major incident arises in our coverage zones: New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Timeline

Here are key updates reported in the app, beginning with the very first.

(All times listed are PST.)

1:04:12 pm: “Incident reported at 901 Cherry Ave.”

• 21 people within a quarter-mile radius receive a notification about “Shots Fired.”

1:04:18 pm: “Police are responding to a report of gunfire.”

1:06:56 pm: The first Citizen user begins broadcasting live from the scene. A second user begins a new live stream within a minute.

• 272 people within a 1-mile radius receive a notification with a link to watch live video from the scene.

1:08:04 pm: “Officers are reporting that some people may be coming out of the complex with their hands up.”

1:09:47 pm: “Cherry Ave and Bayhill Dr are being shut down as police set up a perimeter.”

1:12:37 pm: After confirming that YouTube’s campus is this address, Citizen sends the first major alert to our entire Bay Area userbase.

• 16,509 people receive the notification.

1:14:12 pm: “Police advise that an active shooter may be inside the building.”

1:22:19 pm: Citizen sends the first of 6 follow-up alerts as the situation unfolded.

• 16,525 people receive the notification.

1:27:54 pm: “Employees have reportedly barricaded themselves inside of rooms in the building.”

1:30:11 pm: Citizen sends a global alert to users from coast to coast (in both NYC & the Bay Area).

• 303,910 people receive the notification.

1:37:12 pm: “Police officers report that the suspect might have shot him or herself on the patio. This has not been confirmed.”

1:49:53 pm: “EMS personnel have been tending to injured people who fled the campus; the number of victims remains unclear at this time.”

1:57:06 pm: Citizen sends a final alert to our Bay Area userbase, communicating that the situation appears to be under control.

• 16,526 people receive the notification.

2:18:55 pm: “Early reports indicate that the shooter was female. This has not been confirmed.”

2:27:42 pm: “Five people suffering injuries were reportedly transported to Stanford Health Care Hospital. It’s unclear how serious the injuries are.”

2:42:17 pm: “The San Bruno Police Chief confirms that four gunshot victims were found in the building. A woman’s gunshot wound appeared to be self-inflicted. Police are continuing to investigate in the building.”

3:04:19 pm: “One woman, thought to be the shooter, has reportedly been pronounced deceased.”

3:05:50 pm: “Police officers are blocking off several crime scenes in the vicinity of the YouTube campus to collect evidence.”

Coverage Overview

Citizen covered the incident for over two hours. To share the most relevant, real-time information with users who needed it, we sent 37 incident updates, 10 push notifications, 6 tweets, and two Facebook posts. We tweeted about the shooting 21 minutes before the New York Times, and sent a push notification to all of our users 9 minutes before we received the CNN news alert.

Feedback from Citizen users

Looking Ahead

During this review of our internal response, we identified a few areas where we can improve. The app remained stable during this incident, but our analysts reported some lag while operating internal software. We are continuing to invest in engineering resources so we can improve systems and stability during high traffic.

We’re also dedicated to fine-tuning the speed and relevance of our push notifications. We likely could have withheld 2 of the 7 notifications we sent our Bay Area users. And the next time we send a notification to our entire userbase, we’ll use the headline Nationwide Alert to provide more context, explaining why an NYC user is receiving an alert for an incident in the Bay Area.

We’re working every day to improve our technology, speed, and reliability. We do all of this to help people protect themselves and each other. At Citizen, it’s our goal to provide our users with peace of mind by way of information, imparting clarity during times of chaos. Cut through the noise to give people the information they need to stay safe.

Our thoughts and best wishes are with everyone affected by this tragedy.

-The Citizen Team