A 13-year old boy, who had been reported missing since August was found safe, thanks to a social media campaign run by Italian football club, AS Roma.
The campaign featured As Roma’s new signing (on-loan) Henrikh Mkhitaryan alongside the child and contact information on a twitter video post.
“The teenager who featured in the Henrikh Mkhitaryan x @missingchild_ke announcement video was actually found on the day the Armenian international made his AS Roma goalscoring debut,” announced AS Roma on their official twitter account.
The Italian club also went ahead and republished the video which featured other missing across the world to ensure that those who might know their whereabouts have a chance to view the clip.
A number of twitter users, especially those in Kenya commended on the club’s campaign, stating that they are using the social media platform in a positive manner.
The Italian side, in conjunction with other child support charities; National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Telefono Azzurro have so far helped find two missing children through running social media campaigns.
A similar campaign helped find a girl who had gone missing in London being featured on a blog post alongside the club’s new signing Mert Cetin, a defender for the side.
The club says that it will make use of the viral Nature of social media to run campaigns and help finding children.
This is a very good strategy by the club, as it is making good use of football as the most popular sport, to create awareness on the global internet platforms.
The Missing child Kenya partnered with the Italian side in July to make their websites global and help find missing children locally and globally.
Missing Child Kenya posts images of missing children on various social media accounts, providing information and creating awareness to the general public.