Social media has many
uses. For people like me it is to post selfies and circulate funny memes found
on the internet. For many others though social media is where they get the most
of their news. Especially for many of the people in the younger generation. Lately,
while scrolling on my timeline I have seen post about girls that have gone
missing not only in DC but all over America. This made me think, does re-posting
these missing girls really help or is it just there to inform people.
First I wanted to look
into the “who”. Who is posting this information? An article I found on The
Missing NY helped me clear up that question. When it comes to posting the
missing online it usually become as mixture of both the police and community
that try to get this missing victims pictures to go viral. It stated that. “Police
and other government agencies are using social media heavily to share
information about missing people.” The article also stated that when someone
goes missing the first place investigators go to is social media’s whether it
be the victims account or just to raise awareness. Most missing persons
investigators even set up their own pages dedicated solely to the victims. Interesting
fact “Facebook, in partnership with the center, started showing Amber Alerts on
user’s newsfeeds in January to further aid in searches. An alert appears if a
user is in the same location as a recently abducted child. Alerts, however, are
rare and most users will never see one.”
So, does raising awareness
for missing people on social media help? As an example there has been building
pressure across DC because people are alarmed at how many girls have gone
missing in such a short time. Social media is literally booming with pictures
shares and retweets promoting a better search to find then. Obviously, when
people click to share they think their helping but city officials beg to
differ. An article found on http://time.com/4715136/dc-missing-girls-social-media/
tells two sides of the story. “Activists say social media can help close the
coverage gap, providing a way to publicize the disappearance of minority
children and jolt the police into action. “It’s instantaneous. You do not have
to wait for the normal news cycle to share information, and you can reach
anyone nationwide,” With that being said city officials say that social media doesn’t
give the whole truth. Like in the cases of the missing girls, people think because
they are plastered across social media that the number of missing girls in that
area have recently increased, nut in actuality it has decreased since past
years. Officials state, “D.C. has witnessed a slight decrease in the number of
reported missing persons, according to police commander Chanel Dickerson, who heads
the youth-and-family arm of the department’s investigative division. Police say
that over the past five years there were 200 missing persons reports every
month, this year 190 cases have been reported on average each month.” Whys such
a misunderstanding, because social media has a way of shaping its own story in
any situation. It can be used to distort the truth, sure it may help when
trying to find someone but the story may not be as truthful as it seems. in this cases many of the women are to be know as "runaways" not victims.
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