A social media expert used a Facebook video to help track down her biological father -- and discovered he’s an Elvis impersonator living in Thailand.

Melonie Dodaro had never met him.

After 47 years, she launched a campaign to track him down. She had a name -- Cees de Jong -- a rough estimate of his age, and his birthplace: Zwolle, Netherlands.

Dodaro started the Twitter hashtag #FindCeesDeJong and posted a video of her story to Facebook:

 

 

HELP, I need your assistance in locating my biological father.Social media is a great tool for spreading a message and I need your help in spreading my personal message.I've never met my biological father and quite often am overwhelmed with curiosity who he is and if I have any other siblings.Please watch this video and help me spread the word, my hope is with your help and the power of social media that I will solve this mystery that's plagued my life, all of my life!His name is Cees de Jong, born March 2, 1946/47 (or maybe even 1948). Born I think in Zwolle, Netherlands. Was in Canada early 1968, then left to go to Sydney Australia. I'm not sure what country he currently lives in.For more details please read: http://topdogsocialmedia.com/find-my-dad-Cees-Dejong/

Posted by Melonie Dodaro on Saturday, May 30, 2015

But de Jong is such a common surname in the Netherlands, some suggested she’d never find him.

“It’s like John Smith in North America,” Dodaro told CTV Vancouver.

But about 30,000 video views later, a magazine editor in the Netherlands managed to track her father down.

And then her father called. For the first time in 47 years, they spoke.

“And he called me up and said, ‘Hello Melanie, this is Colin, your daddy,’” she said.

It turns out Colin de Jong has a common name but an uncommon life. He lives in a mansion in Thailand, works as an Elvis impersonator and has two younger children -- Elvis and Priscilla, of course.

 

 

Dodaro is now planning a visit.

“I think social media has opened doors that we’ve never had before,” she said.

With a report by CTV Vancouver’s Kent Molgat in Kelowna