Twitter Helps Reunite Two Friends Who Met On A Cruise 12 Years Ago
On Saturday, Mississippi teen Briana Cry asked Twitter to help locate a friend she met on a Hawaiian dinner cruise with family in 2006 but never kept in touch with afterwards. The tweet soon went viral, and it only took 12 hours for users on the social media site to track down the girl, whom Daily Mail identified as a California artist named Heidi Tran.
“Hey twitter, I met this girl on a dinner cruise in Hawaii in 2006. We were basically best friends for that night so I need y’all to help me find my bestfriend [sic] cause I miss her and I need to see how she’s doing now. Please retweet this so we can be reunited,” Cry wrote in the initial tweet, along with a photo of her and Tran as children on the cruise.
This morning, Cry posted an update saying that the tweet had been at 9 retweets when she went to sleep. It is currently at 101,225.
Cry later told BuzzFeed News that she had been going through old scrapbook photos and vacation videos when she found the photo and thought about locating Tran. There weren’t many children on the dinner cruise, so the girls stuck together for the night when they met, Cry said.
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
— B (@briannacry) November 24, 2018
Twelve hours later, Tran replied to Cry’s tweet. She shared a selfie while holding a photo of her family on the cruise in 2006 as proof that she was the right woman.
“Heard you were looking for me,” Tran said.
Cry quickly replied back, saying, “Omg my heart is so happy.”
Heidi said later in the thread that this was her first time logging into Twitter for years. She learned of the site-wide search party when her friends alerted her. Thousands of Twitter users who followed the story chimed in to say how thrilled they were that Cry found Tran. Many asked if Cry and Tran started talking again.
“Yes! This morning has been crazy,” Tran confirmed.
The two have reportedly been catching up on each other’s lives and discussing school. Many fans suggested an in-person meet-up, but Tran said it would be difficult since the women live on opposite ends of the country. She also said that she is currently in community college on financial aid, so she can’t travel anywhere just yet.
“I was blown away by the response Bri had gotten. I didn’t think so many people would be invested in a story like this,” Tran told Teen Vogue.
A GoFundMe was created to raise money for the women to reconnect in person, but Tran shared a screenshot of the fundraiser and confirmed that neither she nor Cry set it up. She advised against donating any money to the cause out of fear it is a scam.
