 Queensland Police are increasingly relying on social media to crack crimes. Tent news can reveal that information you provide on Twitter and Facebook is helping solve armed robberies, child abductions and missing person investigations. The 2011 floods catapulted the Queensland Police into the social media world. Just sprang up into the hundreds of thousands of followers. A Twitter-verse map showing the QPS as a leader in circulating information. They were the most visible, the most street-readed account. Now the Facebook page has more than 267,000 followers growing by almost 20,000 every month. They're not just reading posts but sharing them as well, and more importantly providing information back to police more than ever before. We've recognised the power of that medium. That power was demonstrated recently when sex predator, Andrew Ellis escaped from transitional housing at Wakehole. The public provided online tips to help track him. A month ago a child abduction alert was shared 2,500 times in hours and solved. We've had information coming back to us that has actually identified where the car, the vehicle is. QUT social media expert Axel Brun says people get a sense they're helping crack crime. Many of them have smartphones. They can use those to tweet, to go on Facebook. While social media is proving effective, police say it shouldn't replace calling crime stoppers or 000. Police also watch carefully to prevent rumours but recognise the medium is the Mayford. We've got SES, we've got the Queensland Fire, Queensland Ambulances. All of them have gone on social media now. Renee Henry, 10 News.