FBI Enlists Social Media In Suspect Search [Twitter Reacts]


boston marathon

Twitter lit up late Thursday noon as the pursuit of suspects gleaned in surveillance footage went public, and the FBI asked the public to assist and locate two men pictured in relation to the Boston Marathon bombing.

The FBI’s request traversed the web quickly, downing FBI.gov and causing a flurry of activity on Twitter as “twitizens” helped boost the signal.

Embedded images and video made sharing the FBI’s plea to the public the work of a retweet, and many obliged:

Others reported that the FBI’s request helped, and that tips and IDs were coming in:

As it was observed, the FBI’s request amounted to a fairly new tactic in law enforcement, including the use of social media:

The strategy wasn’t universally popular:

Thus far, the FBI has not commented on whether the strategy has helped the investigation.


Kossi

One Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.