Social media to help find runaway teen?

Really - What better tool could there be? Allie Loftis has been missing since November 4. Her mother returned from work that Friday night, discovered the 13-year-old was gone, and reported her missing. Since that time, family and friends are using a variety of social media tools to try and find Allie. It is presumed she has run away, as she has once before. Also, she was struggling at school, and having "typical teenage angst." I hope that's it and she's safe and sound somewhere.

Allie's father, Tony, has several degrees and works in ......... Public Relations! So social media is a natural tool for him to use to find anything, or anyone. Shel Holz interviewed Tony about the social media being used in the search for Allie. With the goal being to get the word out about Allie to the New York area (where she is presumed to be, as she is familiar with Brooklyn), tools used include Twitter, Facebook, and the podcast Holz recorded. Along with those tools, Tony is working on a Find Allie YouTube channel. With Twitter, besides creating fresh tweets, Tony's team is monitoring Twitter feeds and answering any questions that come up.

Tony's initial tweet instigated a Huffington Post article, which more than 3,000 people like or recommended it - widening the reach. The "Find Allie" Facebook page has 600 follower. On Allie's own Facebook page, people are posting how much they want her to come home. The fact that she hasn't even responded to friends, makes me wonder if she can.

In any event - social media's reach is far and wide, and can work successfully in many situations. Some of which you hope you never need to.