I noticed a post today about a 12 year old girl who had gone missing. All of the comments were people desperately asking for others to reblog and spread the word, in hopes of getting her face out to as many people as possible in hopes that someone might recognize her. This is a perfectly logical thing to do if a loved one goes missing, people should use every available recourse to bring them home safely. The post itself had over 30,000 views. For one reason or another I googled the name on the digital missing poster, Caity Morrow, and found nothing. The post claims she went missing on October 29th, two days ago. Two days is plenty of time for the media to explode on this story, and due to the fact that she’s a female, white, blonde, and rather pretty, the media would have been all over this. (Google ‘white woman missing syndrome.’)

The only conclusion I can logically draw is that someone wanted a post of their own creation to explode in popularity overnight, and they succeeded. 32,434 notes overnight and still growing is impressive under any set of standards.  

But, to whoever posted this note: YOU DISGUST ME. It was fascinating to see how fast something can explode on the internet overnight, but this is not the way to do it. Didn’t your Mother ever tell you the story of the boy who cried wolf? Yeah. Think about it.

Let’s say tomorrow you - whoever the brainchild of this is - or a loved one goes missing tomorrow. Based on the amazing success of Caity’s wanted poster, you or your family decides to make one for you… If the last one was fake, how many people do you think are goin to reblog this one? Except this time, it’s not fun and games, your own life is on the line or the life of someone you love. Tumblr, and other social networking sites could be a powerful tool in aiding the recovery of missing persons, if and only if, we take it seriously and only call upon the masses when we need them. 

***DISCLAIMER: If for some reason, I am the one in the wrong, and this was a real missing person; I obviously completely retract anything and everything I just said.