In the seventies, putting missing children on milk cartons was a sure-fire way to get people’s attention. But thirty years later, we’re more likely to be looking at Facebook than our full-fat milk, and more likely to be pinning a picture of our breakfast than perusing its packaging.
Which is where Milk Carton 2.0 comes in (nice one, Tim). The Canadian project uses social networking sites to get the word out about missing children, encouraging people to ‘donate’ their network and raise awareness.
On Facebook, people who opt in have info on missing children added to their news feed for their friends to see. On Google, ads get replaced with pictures of recent cases. On Foursquare, notifications get sent to people near to the scenes of abductions. And on Pinterest, each case gets a board where people can pin things they saw the child wearing or vehicles they were seen in.
The first few hours after a child disappears are crucial, so being able to access millions of people instantly has already made a massive difference. Over 50,000 children go missing in Canada each year, but thanks to the project, six rescues were made in the first six months alone. Impressive stuff.
Via. http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/milk-carton-2-0-the-most-valuable-project/