Chief Francis Kariuki, an African administrative, started his Twitter account in June 2011 to help his Kenyan village maintain peace and order. His tweets have helped to fight crime, organize logistic matters, and locate missing children and farm animals. In one example, Kariuki used Twitter to organize a rescue operation to save a man who fell into a pit. In another, Kariuki was able to stop a bunch of criminals raiding a school teacher’s home through a tweet.

Although Kariuki only has 700 followers, he’s able to reach a much wider audience of nearly 28,000 residents in the village. Most of the people receive his tweets through forwarded text messages or third-party mobile applications.

Kariuki recently told AP:

Twitter has helped save time and money. I no longer have to write letters or print posters which take time to distribute and are expensive.

Thanks to social media, crime rate in Kariuki’s area has dropped significantly to nearly zero, compared to prior periods where break-ins were reported on a daily basis.

@Chiefkariuki