Make friends, investigate murders on the internet

The internet and social media has allowed for these platforms to develop where essentially randoms can form a somewhat community and work in a team to achieve common goals.

Somewhat surprisingly to me, one of the places this is starting to happen in Facebook, particularly in the form of Facebook Groups. Although the recent changes in design would suggest Facebook Groups are slowly on the decline in popularity, there have been some interesting examples emerge lately of random collaboration.

Collaboration is occurring in one way in the production and mashing up of content.

In case you’ve already forgotten who she is, Chk Chk Boom girl was a 15 second celebrity who’s fame has long since passed. However a quick look at the Facebook Group Clare the Kings Cross Bogan Fan Club, you’ll see has over 27,000 members. What’s interesting though is if you scroll down and look through pictures.

Through the 100 or so images, people have taken existing internet jokes and memes and mashed them up to produce and then share their own content. Others are then coming along and extending on people’s existing work. People have created mashup videos and some young entrepreneurs have even started selling customised tees.

Previously, people might have produced their own content and perhaps sent it to their friends, or uploaded it onto a small forum. Never before has there been such a mainstream platform where people can so easily collaborate and share, particularly with large numbers like in a Facebook Group. But it’s not all about wasting time in Photoshop.

This concept of collaboration has actually gone much further, to a point where it’s even helping to solve crimes.

Case in point is the Missing Kane Dadson Facebook Group. Kane went missing after spending the evening in Ringwood in May earlier this year.

Over the next few days the Facebook Group was established and grew steadily over the week. Using the Group’s wall, people were able to offer suggestions and even clues that helped the police investigation. People who were in the area on the night were able to step forward and with resources even greater than those of the police, they were able to work faster in gathering information that ultimately lead to helping the investigation.

Unfortunately Kane’s body was discovered some days later, but the power of the community and collaboration should not be dismissed, particularly when it was done with no direction, no leadership and for the most part with people had never even met before.

This is not the first time it’s happened either. In the Missing Britt Lapthorne Facebook Group, people were able to upload relevant photos while others could search through and tag them. Those tagged where then able to be questioned by the police and were able to help with the investigation.

The internet has allowed collaboration like we’ve never seen before. And we’re going to see a lot more of it in the future. With so much potential behind it maybe it’s time for the official authorities to get behind such causes and promote them. And although parents and employers across Australia hate Facebook, it’s not all bad and there might just be some light at the end of the tunnel yet.