Social Media and its Potential Significance for Missing Persons

I'm thinking with some of the dislike of social media that we could focus more on the positives that it can maybe facilitate.

I ran across an article this morning on this page
www.missingpersonsofamerica.com...
It's an article along with a photo about a blond haired girl observed at a train station in India with a family who doesn't appear to be hers. Someone noticed the child sleeping on a blanket, somehow (not elaborated on) figured the child didn't speak Hindi and snapped a photo. From what I'm understanding, the photo was initially posted a year ago and has 'resurfaced' now.
It's true, I suppose that the parents could carry the albino gene and that could be the reason for the child's appearance but, not speaking the native tongue is strange, IMO. I suppose also that the family could be some sort of 'hired help' for a family and babysitting (if you will) the child seen sleeping on the blanket at the train station. The Madeleine Mccann case has some people looking at every blonde haired blue eyed girl a little more closely/suspiciously I think. Not a bad thing, IMO necessarily...it just is how I think the some of the world's perception has changed since her disappearance.
I just don't know but, there was a similar situation in 2013 when a blonde haired blue eyed girl was discovered (in Greece) to not be living with her biological family and had actually been 'given away'. That little girl's father did carry the albino gene and as unfortunate as it may seem that the mother had given her child away (7 months old) to her employers, it seems as if it was on the level.
www.missingpersonsofamerica.com... bulgaria/
From the original poster of the photo

The little tow-haired girl is sleeping on her stomach and her shoulders seem pink as though she had gotten too much sun. Next to her is a woman on her knees and next to the woman is a baby laying on his back. The station is located in the city of Ganj Basoda, situated on the New Delhi–Chennai main line route passing through the Vidisha district. There is no age of the little girl, but I would guess she is between 3-4 years old. Also, Surendra mentions that she doesn’t speak Hindi, which could be an indicator that she is old enough to carry on a conversation. But, he does not mention what language she was speaking. Many have commented on his post that the little girl might be albino, in which he has responded, “If that’s possible, but not speak hindi, this is precisely the conspicuous exception.” My guess is that Surendra considered that, but it was the fact that the little girl did not speak Hindi caused him to be concerned she was not with the right family.

I'm wondering if social media and the ability to reach millions of people quickly won't someday (near future) be the catalyst for bringing closure to many of the missing persons cases not only here in the states but, abroad as well. It intrigues me to think that perhaps the 'devil is in the details' and one should pay more attention to those vacation photos or, like myself, the random pictures one may take with their 'ever present' phone while visiting a new location or town. The devil may be there or there may be nothing but, it's certainly worth my time to take a second look.
Thanks for reading and I hope there is something with a positive outcome found out about this little girl.

a reply to: TNMockingbird

Good thread!
I for one do not have social media but I feel it's use would be significant in assisting to locate a missing person.

However, The depth of blond on that child, and the blond eye brows on her, along with the pigment of her skin, has me thinking a possible albino child.
I'm no expert though.

Good post TN
It does appear social media is starting to be a little more handy at helping locate missing people. Not as much as I think it could, but there is always room to improve on that. They may already have something like this, but I was thinking if they had a site that sort of acted like the missing people on milk cartons online it sure couldn't hurt. I also think the name of the site should be something that gets people's attention and not government sounding. Did that make sense? Could break it down to missing people by state etc..

Now if we could only get people to pay as much attention too that and actually call the tip line, as the interest people seem to put into watching someone hang themselves or a gang rape and not call anyone... well, I'm sure you get my drift...

a reply to: TNMockingbird

Hi TNM.

As one of those that have been critisizing social media lately, I may have been a bit unfair because there are definitely a lot of pro's, the potential is sky high when used in the right way and for the right reasons, like this here. My gripe was more or less with the negative social and psychological aspect of it.

There is nothing like being able to connect and touch people instantly from anywhere to anyone around the world. The possibilities are endless.

Good thread, have a nice day

a reply to: TNMockingbird

Social media is fantastic for this kind of thing.
Last year my best friend went missing on a night out in a bar close to the many sea cliffs we have here. Within hours we had 50+ people carrying out a physical search of the coast, while thousands of others 'shared' his picture and missing person alert.
At one point he was number one trending missing person on Facebook in the UK.

Due to the nature of our social circles he could have ended up at any number of raves or parties that weekend, perhaps off his head with phone battery dead, but such is the speed of social media we quickly established he wasn't, so must have fallen or be otherwise injured on the coast.
Our search intensified, and we sadly found him at the bottom of a cliff three days later.

In short, although we were unlucky, without social media we would have not been able to contact thousands of people so quickly, or raise and coordinate such a strong search party as easily.

Yep, social media gets a thumbs up from me when communities need fast mass communication.

a reply to: TNMockingbird

On another note, when children went missing before social media the parents had to phone other parents to confirm they were not at their house etc.
Now one 'share' to a few key friends of the missing, followed up by a couple of thousand shares by their friends quickly establishes who saw them last, or if more worrying thoughts should be considered.

In my area over the last year or two this has swiftly resulted in information which would have taken hours before social media, and children have been located quickly.
Most recently a friend's 14 year old daughter who had been lured to a 'party' at some older teens apartment was found purely through Facebook.

a reply to: Macenroe82

However, The depth of blond on that child, and the blond eye brows on her, along with the pigment of her skin, has me thinking a possible albino child. I'm no expert though.

I'm thinking albino also from a non expert POV but, if I'm taking the photographer's word at face value that the child doesn't speak Hindi, it sure would be suspicious in that case. No update as of yet that I can find.

a reply to: onehuman

I absolutely get your drift. I frequent several missing person by state pages. You know my mini obsession with this
Most that I visit don't seem to get much activity except for the Indiana page. It is updated regularly compared to the others.
I think people are afraid to get involved sometimes when they see something suspicious or hesitate to go with their gut instincts.
Here locally there was a case of a teacher who, it is alleged, used some forms of social media to 'groom' his victim and I wonder if the victim's social media accounts had been monitored a little more closely if the situation could have been stopped earlier before it led to her kidnapping.
On the other hand, the speed and distance that word of her abduction travelled coupled with the subsequent tipster being from the Nashville area led to her being discovered safe (ish) in a very remote location in California.
[url]http://heavy.com/news/2017/03/elizabeth-thomas-missing-amber-alert-tad-cummins-tennessee-teacher-culleoka-instagram-found-facebook-photos-video/[ /url]

a reply to: knowledgehunter0986

My gripe was more or less with the negative social and psychological aspect of it.

I absolutely agree that there is that aspect of social media. In my situation, raising teenagers, I've had to learn the ins and outs of social media. There are so many places to visit these days and connect with folks all over the globe that wasn't available when I was growing up. It can be scary so I monitor things that don't feel right and try to help them make good choices as far as what they put in the public. One just has to be as careful who they let in. In the digital world as much as the off line world, IMO.

a reply to: grainofsand

When the brother of a friend of the family went missing a few years ago, his family launched a social media campaign that was helpful in not only getting the word out but organizing searches.
I've been thinking about this and I wonder how one could start up a more 'popular' social media (FB?) type site that would get the traffic needed to perhaps solve some of these missing person cases and get folks interested in finding these missing people. Of course there are folks who don't want to be found but, there are so many that have disappeared under mysterious circumstances and the children...the families with no closure. It's just a thought that we should care more...I don't know.
Hugs for you, my friend, for your loss.

a reply to: TNMockingbird

I think facebook nails it though, instant mass communication saving time finding out the last time someone made contact so location can be whittled down quickly.

I ran away from home when I was 16 and I was totally missing to my family for over a year before I made the phone call to my mother. She had nothing to go on, and I wonder if social media had been a thing would have it been different. Would have I just deleted my account though?

As a curious aside, the public phone box I phoned my mother from is outside the church Agatha Christie was baptised in.
Mystery without the murder.

originally posted by: grainofsand
a reply to: TNMockingbird

Social media is fantastic for this kind of thing.

In short, although we were unlucky, without social media we would have not been able to contact thousands of people so quickly, or raise and coordinate such a strong search party as easily.

Yep, social media gets a thumbs up from me when communities need fast mass communication.

I agree with you, grainofsand! Social media can be very helpful! Several years ago I thought that using social media was wasting of time. But today I've changed my mind and I use them for my work as I built a website with one of 15 Premium PrestaShop Templates to Boost Your Website (www.templatemonster.com... hop-templates-boost-website-2016/) and I didn't know how to attract customers. So, I decided to use social resources in order to get more free traffic. I can say that Facebook, Instagram etc. help me not only be in touch with my friends, but to earn money.