AMBER Alert System Coming To Facebook

Facebook is to issue missing child alerts in user news feeds to US citizens. The alerts will be based on the user's location and will tie in with existing alert systems.

The updates will be based on the AMBER Alert program that has been run for 20 years in the United States. AMBER Alert updates already go out via a range of media including: radio and television, highway electronic billboards, electronic signs outside participating retailers, and text alerts to users who have chosen to receive such messages.

Whether and when to send an alert is the decision of local police, using their own criteria. National guidelines suggest alerts should only go out when a number of conditions have been met, including: whether or not the abduction of a child has been confirmed, there's a risk of serious injury or death, or if there's enough detail on the child / abductor / vehicle (or a combination of these points) in order to be genuinely useful to the public.

AMBER Alert System May Have Saved Hundreds of Lives

One statistic suggests 728 children have been recovered following an AMBER alert, though it's difficult to discern whether or not the alert was directly responsible in every case. (Source: marketwatch.com)

One of the keys to the system is that alerts go out on a local basis. The idea is to garner attention among people in the area where the child is believed to be, without flooding recipients with too many irrelevant alerts. In the latter case, the opposite effect may occur, leading to users tune out and ignore relevant warnings.

Facebook says it will display alerts in news feeds for users in the relevant area. Rather than deal with individual police forces, Facebook will act only on alerts passed on via the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Facebook Alert Goes To Local Users Only

As part of its collation of reports, the National Center will ask local police to define the geographic area where it wants the alert to apply. Facebook will then use this to determine who sees the reports.

Each report will appear as a news feed post, including any available photograph(s) of the child. There'll also be an automatically generated link to a dedicated National Center page about each case. The alerts won't trigger messages, on-screen notifications or any other instant notification on the user's account. (Source: fb.com)

What's Your Opinion?

Do you think this is a smart way to use Facebook, or will do you think there's a risk that the alerts may go unnoticed? Have you ever seen an AMBER alert through other media such as signs or text messaging? Would you share an AMBER alert with friends if it popped up on your Facebook news feed? Can you think of other ways in which such an alert system might be helpful in another scenario?