Just think of Twitter’s bird icon as a carrier pigeon.
When a tourist lost her iPad in the U.K., a police officer was able to return it to her after tracking her down with the help of the Twitter community.
North Yorkshire Police Constable Ed Rogerson was able to access some photos on the iPad, including a flight ticket and several images of what appeared to be the device’s owner. He tweeted one of those images in late October:
The photo was retweeted more than 1,700 times, while Rodgerson tracked down the apparent owner using Twitter’s search capability and the name on the ticket.
As it turned out, the owner, Thanomsup Kho, lives in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, in Thailand, but her Twitter account appeared inactive. However, Rogerson was able to get in touch with Kho through one of her Twitter followers and she responded to his tweets a few weeks later.
“I was very, very pleased and very happy when I heard that my iPad had been found,” she said, according to North Yorkshire police. “Now I can see all the photos I took when I was in England and have a nice reminder of my holiday.”
Here’s hoping that Rogerson used something a little stronger than a carrier pigeon to send it back.
Photo via @hotelalpha9/Twitter