Look around you, pretty much everything that we do nowadays, somehow, revolves around social media.
According to Merriam-Webster, social media is defined as forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and micro blogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos).
Yep, our world revolves around social media. In the pursuit of fighting for justice, this is a major game changer in how cases are viewed, the overall awareness of a case and so much more. In a single click, a post can travel around the world. A case can go from having the bare minimum coverage to some pretty big names covering the story.
So what does all of this mean for you? It means right now, there is even more hope for justice than ever before...justice IS coming!
I'll be the first to say, jumping into the world of social media for the sake of justice requires stepping out of your comfort zone and just doing it. There are ways to navigate the process to make it easier, but honestly, everyone's journey is different.
Personally, I prefer Facebook and Twitter and have seen the greatest progress from these platforms but as I'll discuss below ever platform offers something different. You may start on one and find you prefer something else later, you just never know.
Before, I jump into the platforms, I want to say- take a moment to breathe. You are doing something many people will never understand-fighting for justice, praying for a miracle, trying to stay sane, all while still existing in this world...that's not easy.
No matter where you are on your journey for justice, I pray this moment can be of encouragement to you.
Alright, let's jump in to it.
Facebook (Meta)-
Here, where you'll get the "most bang for your buck" is through the "true crime" groups. If you're not familiar with the term "true crime," it simply refers to real cases of crime, usually murder and missing persons.
In these groups you can post your loved one's story, get advice, meet some wonderful people, and see that somehow through this crazy and unfortunate journey, there is hope. These groups usually have a very high interaction rate.
There are literally hundreds (I'm sure thousands) of groups you can join. Groups for just about every topic and type of case- different regions of the United States and various parts of the world, groups dedicated to children, adults, missing, murdered, cold cases, etc.
With any group, some key things to remember:
-there are predators out there looking to take advantage of you and your situation-be vigilant
-mean people do exist- guard your heart and take a look at how some of these pages are ran to see if it's something you'd like to be a part of
-be mindful of the things you share- you don't ever want to jeopardize the integrity of your loved one's case, or put yourself in danger
Facebook (Meta) continued-
Another useful way to use Facebook is to create a page or group specifically for your loved one's case. The main difference between a page and group are the visibility aspect. Pages are public while groups can be public or private. Pages usually the only one's authorized to post to the page feed while groups have different settings to allow its member to post to the feed.
When in doubt, take some time to look up different groups/pages of cases on Facebook. If you type Justice for... you'll land at a good starting point.
Instagram-
Instagram has a completely different level of engagement than Facebook. When you create a justice page on Instagram, most often, the followers you follow are very different than on Facebook. While you'll still have your avid followers and friends and family, you now are probably following people who are specific to the true crime world and you now have the ability to interact with them and their followers- thus a higher engagement level.
Instagram also has all of it's content visible when someone lands on your page. This makes it easier to see your post and browse them, opposed to how Facebook is set up- the daunting scroll.
In my opinion, Instagram stories is more interactive than Facebook's stories. Stories is an awesome way to share content without having to constantly create a post. Let your most important information live on the page- of course, you're the judge of what that is.
Twitter-
Twitter can be more cryptic because not everyone has a picture of themselves or things on their Twitter that can help you identify who you're interacting with.
For the sake of getting the important information out there, you don't need to know who you're interacting with, until you need to know- like if someone wants to interview you or they start asking more personal questions.
Don't let the vastness of the Twitter world stop you from leveraging that to get your information out there.
There have been times, I've posted information about my sister (sometimes trolling bigger news entities) and within an hour, I'd have a couple hundred shares and likes, more than my usual amount.
On Twitter, you tweet. Your tweets can be one word, an emoji, a GIF, a picture, a graph, a link, a video... so many different ways to convey what you are feeling and thinking in that very moment in time, and you literally may have a therapy session right then and there.
Twitter is happening in real time. Updates to cases, new cases, frustrations with current cases, having the ability to comment on what other people post and have instant interaction and so much more.
When I started Twitter, it was me against Twitter. Now, I know that Twitter has an awesome and very interactive true crime family. From shares, to support, to having the ability to reach some pretty valuable people sooner than you would from sending an email or message on Facebook or Instagram, Twitter is a force in the fight for justice.
Twitter has so many true crime podcasters, YouTubers, journalists, and people that just want to help publicize your story and get more eyes on it that are very active. All of these people a post away.
Many of the people fighting for justice create a Twitter account similar to Justice for (fill in the blank).
To see how some of these accounts are ran to give you an idea of how Twitter may benefit you, you can type justice for...
TikTok-
TikTok...the platform that can make literally anything go viral for no reason at all. It doesn't make sense but it works!
On TikTok, you can make videos sharing memories about your loved ones, talking about their case, problems you've had with fighting for justice, posting fliers- anything! You can keep it simple or get more creative, whatever your comfort level is, there's a place for it on TikTok.
People enjoy hearing about these cases from the people closet to them. So while TikTok is known for it's trending songs, dances and challenges, the fight for justice has made some pretty big waves on trendy platform.
Again, you just never know, when it comes to fighting for justice, sometimes, you just have to try it out and see if it works.
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I know this was probably a lot.
-Do what you're comfortable doing.
- If you have questions, ask them.
-Take baby steps.
-Protect yourself and your loved one's memory...say it with me,
"We won't accept predatory behavior and bullying!"
-Have faith and believe, justice IS coming
If you need help or having any questions, we're here for you and there's some pretty wonderful people in the true crime world that are also here for you. They won't be hard to find, their lights are shining pretty bright.
