A childhood friendship has been rekindled 12 years after it began, thanks to tens of thousands of Twitter users.
Student Brianna Cry, 19, tweeted a photo of herself and her friend Heidi together on a cruise in Hawaii, where they met in 2006, asking for people to share it so they can be reunited.
Hey twitter, I met this girl on a dinner cruise in Hawaii in 2006. We were basically bestfriends for that night so I need y’all to help me find my bestfriend cause I miss her and I need to see how she’s doing now. Please retweet this so we can be reunited. pic.twitter.com/LRtk6ClvV3
— Bri 🌺 (@briannacry) November 24, 2018
Remarkably, it took just one day for the picture to be shared tens of thousands of times and for Heidi to be found.
Heidi, also a student, replied to Brianna’s tweet with a photo of herself with a family picture from the same cruise, and the caption: “Heard you were looking for me.”
Heard you were looking for me~ pic.twitter.com/Dz4z1wapRv
— heii (@heii_tree) November 24, 2018
“I was going through old scrapbooks and watching vacation videos and I saw her,” Brianna told the Press Association. “So I was like wow let’s see if Twitter can find her for me and they did!
“It truly is a small world after all.”
OMG OMG HEY GIRL HEY GIRL HEY!! https://t.co/elWi5t1bPq
— Bri 🌺 (@briannacry) November 24, 2018
Heidi said on Twitter that her friends from school recognised her from the viral post and notified her, adding “I don’t think I changed much in the time span between elementary and middle school.”
Brianna said she and Heidi have been messaging since, talking about “college and life”, and they plan to meet again once they can gather enough funds.
Brianna is from Jackson, Mississippi and goes to Hampton University in Virginia, whilst Heidi is from California.
You’ve Inspired me to find my long lost vacation bestie from when I was a toddler too 😫
— leslie (@lilles21) November 24, 2018
The pair have turned down offers of money from people wanting to help the pair meet up, and warned that some GoFundMe donation pages set up for that cause are fake.
To my knowledge, neither @briannacry or I have set up/been contacted about a gofundme. Please be careful about links everyone, and keep your muns close to your huns uwu pic.twitter.com/bRXItgPJDU
— heii (@heii_tree) November 25, 2018
The story has also inspired other fraudulent claims which are more entertaining than damaging however.
Actor Demetrius Harmon’s tongue-in-cheek post saw him share a photo of himself with a 100 dollar bill, asking for people to retweet to help reunite him with it.