It started this morning when I checked Facebook and saw that a few people had posted a link to an article about a girl named Kara Alongi from Clark Township in New Jersey who had apparently gone missing.
I checked NY Mag's website and sure enough there was an article about it there as well. They reported that Kara sent a tweet last night that said "there is somone in my hour ecall 911."
What happened after that, as NY Mag points out, was a flurry of activity on Twitter and other social media platforms. The hashtag #helpfindkara was trending on Twitter and it allowed many people to become involved in the search for this missing girl.
Unfortunately, the police have reported that Kara was not in fact kidnapped, as there was no sign of struggle in her home, a door was left unlocked, and there was confirmation that a taxi had been called to her address around the same time she sent that tweet.
Police now say that Kara has just run away. But what happens now?
It seems that kids (and many adults) don't understand the power of social media. With each retweet, Kara's call for help circulated to more and more people.
Authorities still have not located her, but she sure will have a lot of explaining to do.
Social media has become so important and it's such a valuable tool for spreading information, but certainly not when it's abused this way.
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