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Sometimes social media is helpful

Sometimes social media is helpful or could be when searching for missing people or animals. Social media can also be helpful in solving crimes.

It is no secret that I am not a big fan of social media especially Twitter and Instagram. I have tried them both for about 3 years. While I have a private Facebook account,I do not have a Facebook account linked to my websites. I do use YouTube to watch all types of video’s.

It is however important to also shed light on the good side of social media. When the wife of Chris Watts went missing, social media exploded with info which helped to convict him. It was the social media users who spotted that his children was still alive when he loaded Shanann into his truck. Many missing persons have been found due to social media users and their detective skills. Another example is how social media users used their online skills and expertise to track down and find missing kids in a forest.

Not all social media detectives are helping though. During the search for then missing Elisa Lam some social media detectives decided that an innocent musician murdered her without any proof. They ruined the life of this guy and drove him close to suicide. The problem with these kind of “detectives” are that they do not have the facts and evidence that the real Police detectives have. Many of them have lots of followers who then also spread fake news.

Back to the good side of social media. There are so many good examples where social media users stepped in to prevent a crime, alert authorities and helped to find missing persons and also known criminals.

I will still not rejoin social media anytime soon though. Definitely not Twitter. I like the simplicity of life without the noise and disruption.