China's Social Media Used To Find Missing Children

In China, social media is tightly controlled in order to prevent the spread of information the government does not like. But some Chinese are learning to use social media to reunite families. Recently, Peng Gaofeng was reunited with his son, who was abducted three years ago, when he was just three. In general, Child abduction is a large problem in China with thousands of children disappearing each year. Due to the large population, the government struggles to assist with the problem. Xinle's desperate father searched he country looking for him, traveling hundreds of miles. The boy has finally returned home, thanks to the reach of the Internet. Peng started a blog and alerted China's version of Twitter, known as Weibo, with postings of his son's photo in the hope that someone, somewhere, would recognize Xinle. It worked.Peng said "the power of social media had been huge in his search, and if it was not for the Internet, he would never have found this son." Peng's online pleas for help were spotted by Deng Fei, a journalist with a following of 100,000 on Weibo. Out of the goodness of his heart, he reposted Peng's worries and Xinle's photo. Deng contacted the police, and then used social media to show the wonderful reunion, which made headlines news.