Naysayers claim that social media isn’t very important. Or, that it isn’t really real. What do they mean when they say this? The assumption is that social media communication somehow isn’t a ‘genuine’ connection. But what these people don’t understand is that social media is simply a tool to make genuine connections that happen in life easier.
There are incredible real-life stories that prove social media really can make wonderful things possible. What’s more, these connections might never have happened at all if it weren’t for social media. Proving that social media really can make the world a better place and change lives for the better.
The woman who found her identical twin sister on YouTube
Anais Bordier found her long-lost identical twin sister when a friend at her fashion college posted a YouTube video on her Facebook wall. The American girl in the video looked exactly like her. But Anais lived in London and had never met this woman before in her life. After a second video was posted online, she did some online sleuthing and discovered the woman was called Samantha Futerman. Finally, she reached out to her on Facebook and after a long conversation on Skype, the two women realized how similar they really were — sharing a remarkably similar voice and even the same mannerisms.
They decided to meet and investigate whether they really could be related. After successfully crowdfunding the money to get DNA tests, it was made official — the two sisters, living half the world apart, had found each other because of social media.
The filmmaker who used Facebook to help make a little boy’s day
If you haven’t seen the wonderful Caine’s Arcade on YouTube yet, take a few minutes to check it out below. A little boy spent all his time building and staffing an elaborate and inventive arcade made of cardboard, but on his quiet out of the way street, he didn’t get any customers. One day, filmmaker Nirvan Mullick decided to show the world how awesome Caine’s creation was and got together a huge crowd from L.A. and beyond to surprise Caine by turning up one day. The video now has almost 5 million views on YouTube.
When the woman abandoned as a baby found her mother using Facebook
As a baby, Katherine Deprill was left in a Burger King by her mother, who felt she could no longer take care of her and abandoned her only hours old. Katherine wrote an explanation of her story on a sheet of paper, posed with it for a selfie and posted it on Facebook. Her message read: “Looking for my birth mother. She gave birth to me on September 15, 1986. She abandoned me in the Burger King bathroom only hours old, Allentown PA. Please help me to find her by sharing my post. Maybe she will see this. Thank you.”
After the post was shared over 30,000 times it started to gain media attention. One of the newspaper reports caught the eye of a woman who approached Deprills lawyer claiming to be her mother. When the two met Depril said she was struck by how alike they looked and felt “pure joy” at being reunited with her mother after so many years.
What about you? What’s the best case you know where social media helped someone fulfill their dreams?
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