By Tim Clifford

Here, submitted for your approval, is a small and local tale highlighting the power of social media. On June 29, at 8:45 p.m., artist Kim McCarthy’s son had his bicycle stolen outside of the Safeway in Burien Plaza. On June 30, right after midnight, McCarthy began tweeting out a picture of the green Motobecanebike asking for help from social media in locating it. At some point during the day she posted an ad to craigslist as well.

Going by the handle “urbansoule” on Twitter McCarthy eventually tagged the Burien Police Department in her tweets and found out that they are indeed “listening”. Cpt. Bryan Howard began a thread with McCarthy offering advice on other sites to post the story to and eventually gave her a number to call to speak directly with a detective.

At the same time a man emailed McCarthy saying that he believed he may have bought her son’s stolen bike and wanted to meet to return it. A meeting was set up for June 2 in the parking lot of Burien PD and then was changed to the 7-11 on 176th. The man never showed up and seemed to be acting weird about meeting. All of this was posted to the ongoing thread with Cpt. Howard. On July 3 at 6:25 p.m. Howard tweeted to McCarthy that Det. McDonald would be calling her soon and that he would take the number and call the man for her. About two hours later McCarthy tweeted out that the bike had been returned to her and her son.

In conclusion it took a little less than five days for the bike to be stolen and returned. While many lament the state of personal interactions thanks to social media there are still stories to be found that prove its effectiveness at immediately connecting people. Social media can truly be a powerful tool,even if just for the sake of getting your son's bike back.