Kati's Social Media Story

A couple of years ago, a student right here at Northern Kentucky University, felt the firsthand effects of what it’s like for her own post on social media to go viral. Kati, a now friend of mine and a classmate, was devastated when she misplaced her wallet only to find it a few minutes later, with two-hundred and forty dollars in cash missing. In a frantic, she ran to the nearest emergency call switch to call the on-campus police and file a police report. What she did not expect was for the police officer to reach into his own wallet and hand her his own money to replace what had been stolen from her. After the incident occurred, Kati uploaded this video to her Facebook page.

              Not long after she posted the video, it went viral. Kati said, “I posted the video because I had just made a status about someone stealing my wallet and it had a ton of concern. So, I figured instead of trying to type what happened to keep family and friends updated, I would just make a video. I had no idea [it would receive the attention that it did.] All I knew is I went to work and forgot about posting it really and then people -news channels and people trying to pay back Officer Liles- were calling Hooters asking to talk with me. My manager went to my Facebook and saw how many views it had in an hour's time, and then called me in the office to tell me.  I received mostly a good response. People from all over were messaging me and adding me [as a friend on Facebook.] It got to the point that no one could even add me on Facebook anymore. Some people even tried to pay my tuition. Officer Liles ended up getting paid back by his department and getting recognized, his GoFundMe raised $3,300 that he donated to the Wounded Warriors Project, and a kind person who happened to work somewhere in South Carolina sent him [Officer Liles] and his sons on a cruise.” Like Kati said, she was reached out to by news channels, and everyone was covering her story.