Week 6

I recently encountered a CNN article about a 16-year old girl who was reported missing in New Jersey.  The girl was later found approximately 48 hours later off of exit 1 of the New Jersey Turnpike.  Her parents had reported her missing on a Sunday evening and she was found on a Tuesday.  Later information told of a phone call placed to a taxi service from the house at the time of disappearance.  The cab driver later identified the passenger as the girl who went missing.  The cab driver reportedly drove the girl to Rahway Train Station.  As mentioned before, the girl was found two days later, and she was examined at South Jersey hospital and later North Jersey hospital as well.  However, from a social media standpoint, the above details are not important.  The real story includes a tweet from mentioned girl that stated, ""There is somone in my hour ecall 911" at 6:20 p.m. Sunday before she went missing. It is believed she meant "someone in my house, call 911."  This sparked a fire on the social media site, and by mid-Monday, the girl had over 100,000 followers.  Everyone and everybody began tweeting rapidly using #helpfindkara.  

The story above simply sounds like a cry for attention from this 16-year old New Jersey native.  However, I would like to point out the sheer power found in social media sites using this example.  With just one person simply tweeting a rough cry for help, thousands of people suddenly become involved and interested in her safety.  I was simply amazed at the number and speed of responses and how fast people begin to follow one individual.  I believe this system could be faster than broadcasting a story over a major news network at times.