It's Your Week: Missing Black girls get less attention on social media
Parents and loved ones of missing children often turn to social media to help bring their kids home. But for parents of missing Black children, it's not an equal platform.
Sallee Ann here and welcome to Your Week, our newsletter exclusively for Paste BN subscribers.
This week, we dive into our series on missing children and the role social media plays in the search.
But first, don't miss these stories made possible with your Paste BN subscription:
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What happens when a child goes missing?
When a child disappears, it takes cooperation among police, the media and the public to find them. A Paste BN investigation series found all three of those groups are less likely to give their best efforts for missing Black children.
The latest in the "Missing" series looks at the role the public plays, even if we don't realize it.
Paste BN analysis suggests social media audiences bestow more likes, shares and views on posts about missing white children than missing Black children.
"We got this story idea from a researcher in Louisiana who had analyzed Facebook posts for missing persons on the page of a regional advocacy group in the South," senior data reporter Doug Caruso said. "When we examined video posts made by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children throughout the U.S., we found the same thing that researcher did: audiences click far less on posts about Black missing children than they do for white missing children, especially white girls."
In 375 videos featured on Facebook by The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, the average views on posts about white girls was more than 63,000; for Black girls, it was 38,300.
"We've already seen research that shows that the news media and police often turn aside from missing children of color, but here was evidence that even when advocates use social media to get around the gatekeepers, audiences have the final say," Caruso said.
Research also shows that Black girls are in greater danger than others when they disappear. One 2018 comprehensive review of missing children’s cases in New York state showed that Black girls were missing longer and were more than twice as likely to remain missing than other children.
Analysis also showed that engagement on posts about missing children increases the longer the child has been missing, and decreases when the child has been described as a runaway. In fact, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children scrubbed the word “runaway” from its public communications a decade ago.
“A runaway child is a missing child,”said Michael Hill, the center’s director of digital and social media. “To us, they’re a child and they’re missing, and we need to help them."
Paste BN shared the stories of five families who used social media to spread the word about their missing children. None of them have been found. Read about their cases here.
If you have any information about the cases, call the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).
If you believe you have experienced unfair treatment when reporting a child missing or if you know of a case you think we should look into, please fill out this form.
More from our Missing series:
- Alexis Patterson has been missing since 2002. Odds are you don’t know her story.
- Elizabeth Smart and Alexis Patterson: A timeline of how their cases differ
- Distrust of police by Black Americans means DNA falls short in searches for missing children
- Watch: States of America episode on how racial disparities impact the search for the missing. (More places, including Roku and Amazon Fire TV, where you can watch States of America can be found here.)
Midterms are coming
If you're reading this on Sunday, we are just 30 days from midterm elections on Nov. 8. Are you all set to vote? Here are some handy links:
- Midterms 101: Here's what's at stake and everything to watch before Election Day
- Know your rights: A state-by-state analysis of voting rights
- How to register to vote: Making a plan to cast your ballot
📊 Let's take a poll!
How are you feeling about the upcoming midterm elections? Click the link that best fits.
Results will be shared in an upcoming edition.
A little levity
Meet Fenrir, the tallest living domestic cat.
Clocking in at 18 inches, Fenrir's owner said "he just grew and grew like Clifford the Big Red Dog." Meow-za!
Thank you
Thank you for being a Paste BN subscriber. Your support allows us to shed a light on stories that would otherwise go unnoticed.
See you next week!