Social media helped the hunt for six-year-old Andrew Thompson, who was reunited with his father in the Netherlands last week after a two-and-a-half year search.


Social media sites are often seen as places to swap gossip, share photos and waste time, but they are increasingly being used in the hunt for missing persons.

One such case is the hunt for six-year-old Andrew Thompson, who was reunited with his father in the Netherlands last week after a two-and-a-half year search.

Mr Thompson's desire to track down his son was so great that he quit his job as a deputy fire chief, mounted a bicycle and rode 6,500 kilometres through Europe to find him.

He also regularly used social media sites to help raise awareness for his quest.

Australian Missing Persons Register founder Nicole Morris, who helped Mr Thompson search for his son for more than two years, credits social media with being a major factor in helping find Andrew.

"Facebook was certainly a big part of Andrew's case. Ken wrote a blog, which was also fantastic for all of us at home supporting him - we could see exactly where he was," she told ABC News Online.

"It was also fantastic being able to send links out to so many people [via social media] to see what he was doing and get people interested."

Ms Morris started using social media sites like Facebook and MySpace to raise awareness of missing person cases about 18 months ago.

"It's an effective and immediate way to reach a huge number of people in a short space of time," she said.

"If I've got an urgent missing case then I can post something right away. I've reached so many people and amongst those people I'm reaching, there will be people who are physically and geographically close to where that missing person may be."

Ms Morris says social media allows "an instant reaction from people" and is a fantastic source of emotional support for families.

"[With social media] people can immediately say 'that's really moving', 'that's terrific, continue your search'," she said.

"Families take a lot of comfort from that - just to feel like they're not alone and they're not going crazy. It also lets them know their search is worthwhile and valid."

The parents of missing Sunshine Coast teenager Daniel Morcombe also use social media to promote the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, which they set up after their son's suspected abduction and murder in 2003.

Denise Morcombe finds social media useful in promoting the foundation, which contributed money to finding Andrew Thompson.

"We put up any news on the foundation, sometimes it might be a news article," she told ABC News Online.

"It's free advertising really - you can't always afford ads and things all the time. We don't like to bombard people, but we can get Australia-wide and even overseas."

Dark side

But while there are many advantages to the medium, Ms Morcombe and Ms Morris also find some parts concerning.

Ms Morcombe says she worries about the personal information people casually put up on their page, while Ms Morris says she does not want people using her page to find contacts for families of missing people for "dishonourable reasons".

"I try to protect them from [people like] psychics and those who might have visions and feel the need to share that with the family of a missing person," she said.

"Also private investigators who want to contact families because they are looking for business. Families can also be overwhelmed by certain media contacting them in this way."

Ms Morris says she has to regularly monitor the page in case people post defamatory or rude comments.

"I have very little trouble, but sometimes I do have to remove comments and people have to be aware that they can't just name a murder suspect on a public website, which they tend to want to do," she said.

"I do step in quite regularly when people are sailing too close to the wind."

But she thinks the advantages of social media still outweigh the concerns. In her work for the Australian Missing Persons Register, she encourages people to use social media to look for their loved ones.

"It can raise so much awareness that it will result in someone coming forward to provide really good information - better than if no-one knows the person's missing," she said.

"It does absolutely help find people but it may be more of a contributing factor rather than the be-all and end-all."

Sarah Collerton

Source: abc.net.au