Social Media Campaign Raises Thousands

In regards to my previous post, Social Media Helped Boston Bombing, the suspect was found several days after the attack. He was found hiding in a boat located in a Watertown resident’s backyard.   

During the manhunt in Watertown for the Boston Bombing suspect, Dave Henneberry reported that he found the terror suspect hidden in his beloved boat. The state police raced to the scene as quick as possible and spotted the suspect by using their night vision equipment. The police detected the suspect’s body under the tarp in the boat.

This brave citizen found the suspect crouched in his boat “Slip Away II” and reported it. It was said that Dave just had the boat done and spent so much money on it. The police riddled the boat with many bullet holes.

Dave’s neighbors felt for him because they knew his boat was his baby. The vessel is now damaged. However, he is awarded the $50,000 for tipping the FBI information about the fugitive. The people of Watertown argue that the repairs for the boat shouldn’t be taken out of the reward. The support for an everyday man has been incredibly amazing. This incident has inspired several social media fundraising campaigns. They used Crowdit.com, the world’s largest funding platform for group experiences, activities and more. The page has raised more than $12,000 in just a few days. The power of social media is beyond my understanding.

Social Media Helped Boston Bombing Response

As you may already know there was a tragedy that occurred earlier this month. There was a Boston Marathon bombing that injured over 100 people and killed 3. There was a chaos of people and cell phones weren’t working. People were said to have rushed home to post a Facebook status informing their family and friends that they were OK and there phone was down.

A friend of a victim stated,

I have been following my friend's Facebook [account] who is near the scene and she is updating everyone before it even gets to the news.

As word spread of the blasts on Monday morning, social media seemed to have shaped every aspect of the response from runners giving updates of the race-turned-nightmare on Facebook to authorities using Twitter to give constant updates. Runners were reporting about the incident prior to the news channels releasing any new information. Terrorism experts said that social media helped in Boston to determine their steps after hearing about the explosions.

Bill Braniff, Executive Director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Response to Terrorism said

Authorities have recognized that one of the first places people go in events like this is to social media, to see what the crowd is saying about what to do next.

Before Authorities took their steps, they looked to Twitter to search for corroborating information in order to take a corrective action.

Above photo is a screenshot of a Tweet that was sent from the Boston Police Dept. in search for the suspect.

 

It’s amazing how people learned information about the blasts on social media before hearing it on any traditional news outlets. The event became a trending topic on twitter, #BostonMarathon. The information was spreading beyond the affected area and became a trending hashtag within the online community that expanded across national borders. There is a greater sense of unity. Its unfortunate that days like this, brings us together.

Overall, social media is a tremendous help for investigators throughout their evaluation process. Photos and statuses that are posted can be used to help identify the perpetrators of the attack. Just like Sandy, people were documenting the aftermath in posts and pictures of the events.