Full disclosure: I am a Facebook user.

I read this story differently, Doug. Rather than thinking it's about an irresponsible parent who thinks Facebook is the perfect back-up plan, my first thoughts were: "Wow! An 8 year trying to call 911 for his dad and the cel phone/cel signal died in the middle of the call, before the 911 crew could get the details they needed to start a search, and the dispatcher used social media to fill in the missing information. That's cool!"

This is a case of a mid-trip emergency. It's possible that dad did do the right thing pre-trip, and advised a responsible person, but they may not have been overdue yet. Sounds like the other person wasn't at all in the "Huston, we have a problem!" loop when the accident happened and the cel/signal conked out? The kid did the right thing, IMO, by calling 911 first and not that other person.

Maybe, just maybe, this is a case, where using social media, as part of responsible trip planning, was a good thing? It certainly help the SAR team find the bread crumb trail. We'll never know, but I wonder how long might rescue have taken if they didn't find the tip on Facebook?