Social media aids the lovestruck

Reese McKee has a name and a photo and not much else, but he hopes to find Katie this Christmas. Photo / Mark Mitchell

A lovestruck man using social media to track down a mystery American woman he met in Hong Kong says he is overwhelmed by the public response.

Reese McKee, 25, is hoping the magic of Christmas and the power of Facebook will reunite him with "Katie'', who he met by chance last New Year's Eve.

They both became lost earlier in the night and shared hours together before parting ways at 6am - her last words to him: "Find me.''

But realising he had no details to go on other than her first name, the fact she was from "DC'' and a photo of her on his phone, Mr McKee turned to Facebook this week in a bid to find her.

An APNZ story yesterday on the romantic endeavour has gone viral online and on social media. By this afternoon, it had already attracted nearly 83,000 page views on nzherald.co.nz, been shared more than 8700 times on Facebook and tweeted more than 180 times. The story has also attracted the attention of overseas media, including US TV shows.

Mr McKee, from Wellington, said he was yet to hear from Katie or source her contact details, but was now confident of tracking her down.

"It definitely looks like this will probably work - it's big.''

His Facebook post about his search was "exploding'' and feedback from people had mostly been encouraging, he said.

"Some people have been a bit suspicious which I suppose is understandable, but the vast majority is really positive. Everyone's on board.''

He believed his story had hit a nerve with the romantics out there.

"Everyone's sort of projecting their own romantic ideas or missed opportunities, and helping out - the power of social media.''

However, Mr McKee's bid was getting a mixed reaction on his Facebook page today.

Rene O'b wrote: "I can assure you all that if this girl wanted to be found (or followed) she would NOT have said find me as her last words. dude, she's just not that into you...sorry.''

However, Lauren Lisbeth Miller wrote: "I cannot handle how sweet this is. Like my eyes are watering...and I don't even know you people. Real life freaking Nicholas Sparks book. You're putting a lot of dudes to shame.''