On May 25 - International Missing Children’s Day (IMCD) – Missing People launched the first ever “Big Tweet for Missing Children.” Over a 24 hour period from midnight on 25 May (BST), the charity tweeted a new appeal for a missing child every 30 minutes, inviting supporters to retweet and help make #IMCD the trending topic of the day. 

The general public showed extraordinary support over the course of the 24 hours, retweeting the appeals more than 7,000 times. More than 15,000 people clicked through to our missing children appeal pages, and the number of people following the charity on Twitter increased from 1,400 to 7,181. High-profile supporters including Stephen Fry, Sarah Brown, Victoria Beckham, and Lily Allen also helped to spread the word on Twitter, and #IMCD was a trending topic in the UK by 7.24am.

Kerry Needham’s son Ben went missing 19 years ago at the age of 21 months. She says, “Every morning and every night I look at his picture and it gives me strength. I am his Mum and I will never give up hope.” Missing People organised ‘The Big Tweet’ for Ben and all the other missing children, and is incredibly grateful to all those who joined the search.

While the Big Tweet for Missing Children is over, the search for missing people will continue. Find out how you can get involved by visiting www.missingpeople.org.uk/join-the-search and following @missingpeople on Twitter.