Study Finds First 72 Hours Crucial To Determining Whether Missing Person Case Goes Viral

NEWARK, NJ—According to a new study released Monday by researchers at Rutgers University, the first 72 hours after a person is reported missing are crucial in determining whether or not their case will go viral. “Our study found that if a missing person case fails to garner media attention in the first three days of investigation, there is little chance their story will ever get covered,” said researcher David Stuart, who explained that a statistical analysis of the key data sets revealed that 80% of high-profile missing-person cases made national news headlines within the first 24 hours. “If a CNN anchor still hasn’t spoken their name after those first 72 hours, it becomes less and less likely every day that their disappearance will become sustained in the cultural narrative. The odds of getting competing Hulu and HBO Max docuseries made about their case will only grow slimmer. It’s only very rarely that we see a missing person trending on Twitter after that period.” At press time, Stuart added that this limited window was why there was nothing more important than exploiting their disappearance as TikTok content as soon as possible.