“There is somone in my hour ecall 911” (sic) - this was the bone-chilling message sent by a 16-year-old American girl on Sunday night, who went missing soon after tweeting that an intruder was in her house, and had still not been found at the time of writing.
Twitter was whipped up into a frenzy, as thousands started tweeting with the hashtag 'helpfindkara', along with pictures of the missing Kara Alongi, and the ultimate digital search party ensued.
The 1 500 tweets mentioning #helpfindkara generated more than 731 000 impressions, reaching an audience of more than 577 000 followers in 24 hours.
Tarryn Giebelmann, VPO editorial manager and sub-editor
According to Hash Tracking, the 1 500 tweets mentioning #helpfindkara generated more than 731 000 impressions, reaching an audience of more than 577 000 followers in 24 hours. The hashtag trended for most of the day. Missing Kara had officially gone viral.
A few hours later, however, someone posted a screenshot of Kara's Twitter profile, the latest tweet saying: “Why is everyone saying I'm missing? I was joking.” This had two effects: some followers lambasted the teen for faking her own kidnapping; others saw an opportunity to spin the situation, tweeting images of themselves “looking” for Kara in cupboards, under tables, in shoes, in toilet bowls, usually with the accompanying phrase “I'm doing my bit, #helpfindkara”. Others posted screenshots of maps in which they had entered the name 'Kara', drawing up no results Not even Siri knew where Kara was, according to some posts. Where is Kara?
An elaborate hoax?
Kara, whose Twitter following shot up from 402 to an astonishing 108 000 followers overnight, had become an instant celebrity.
There was one slight problem though - the “I'm joking” tweet was the product of a twisted mind. One sharp Twitter user pointed out that the photo was doctored, as Kara's tweet count, which was sitting at 966 at the time of the SOS call, did not move up to 967 when the “I'm joking” tweet was posted.
Confusion reigned. Was she kidnapped? Wasn't she kidnapped? Was this some elaborate plan by a teen looking to garner more followers? As @Aboyle1992 put it: “Missing, not missing, dead, joking about missing, fake pic, now missing again WHAT'S THE TRUTH #helpfindkara.”
The truth, according to police who had been searching for the teen after establishing that she was, in fact, missing, was that she wasn't kidnapped, that she left her house voluntarily, and that no abduction had taken place. It is now being treated as a 'runaway juvenile' case.
Sinister indeed.
What this has proved, however, is that Twitter is an incredibly powerful tool for spreading news in emergency situations. In a matter of 24 hours, 577 000 people had more than likely seen a photograph of the teen; the hunt was on.
The #helpfindkara hashtag has now taken a new turn. People aren't impressed that she could be faking her own kidnapping when there really are missing people in the world. It's now not uncommon to see “#helpfindkara a therapist”, “#helpfindkara a brain”, “#helpfindkara a new sense of humour” or “#helpfindkara a mental hospital”.
This is Twitter, what is your emergency?
Some slammed Kara for tweeting in an emergency when she could have just called 911 herself. But anyone who has seen the move 'Taken' knows that the last thing you want to do when an intruder is in your house is draw attention to your hiding place. Sending a tweet in an emergency situation in which you need to remain silent is, in my opinion, pretty darn smart.
Could this be an argument for an emergency response service via social media? Or would it be abused by bored teens seeking attention, as appears to be the case in Kara's situation?
The South African Police Service has a Twitter profile. If it were monitored 24/7, the 140 character limit should suffice in getting crucial information to the police in the quickest time. As an example, if SAPS were to receive something along the lines of: “Kidnapped from 5 xxxxx Road, JHB. Send help”, a response car could be dispatched immediately; SAPS could retweet to its more than 17 000 followers to raise awareness and the entire South African community would be on alert, playing crime-busting assistants to the police.
Services like eBlockwatch could spread the word further, targeting specific areas and getting residents involved in searches.
Genius, in theory. But in reality? A recent report by the auditor-general revealed that a staggering 58% of crimes reported to the police's 10111 call centre are not registered or investigated due to a lack of administrative control. So it's not just abuse we have to be concerned about, it's incompetence, too.
If platforms such as Twitter were to be used to report emergencies, radical transformation would be needed within SAPS' structures to ensure it runs smoothly. High-level intelligence would have to sort the genuine cases from the bored teen cases, of which there would probably be a lot. Strict controls would be needed in order to verify real emergencies; SA cannot afford even more abused and wasted resources.
The new milk carton
The Internet is already being used to help find missing children. According to the BBC, a European initiative is using '404 Not Found' pages to help find missing children, putting pictures and biographical details of the missing on these otherwise empty pages in the hopes that someone who lands on one of these pages may have seen them.
The 'help find Kara' incident is proof that people can and do get involved when it doesn't need more than a retweet and a few extra words. The traditional search party now plays out online, and involves a lot more volunteers who are more willing to post a tweet than get out of bed and search the woods by torchlight in their pyjamas.
Of course, if people use the platforms available to report fake kidnappings or crimes, this very useful tool runs the risk of being mistrusted by many. The potential is there; the education and common sense is not.
Don't always believe what you read.
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