Global Manhunt Pushes Limits of Social Mobilization

Network of Spotters Tracks Suspects through Social Media in Simulated Jewel Heist in Five Cities across North America and Europe. An international team of researchers, including computer scientist Manuel Cebrian from the University of California, San Diego, has won a seemingly impossible challenge: tracking down a group of "suspects" in a jewel heist on two continents in five different cities, within just 12 hours. The goal was to find five suspects. Cebrian's group, named CrowdScanner, found three. That was far better than their nearest competitor, which located just one "suspect"-at a much later time. It was all part of the "Tag Challenge," an event sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Prague that took place March 31. The challenge aimed to "determine whether and how social media can be used to accomplish a realistic, time-sensitive, international law enforcement goal." With a $5,000 reward for the winners, the goal was to build a network of spotters and teammates for the simulated law enforcement search through social media in each of five cities including Washington D.C. New York City, London, Stockholm and Bratislava in Slovakia.