Facebook to distribute Amber Alerts
On the surface at least, this looks like a bright idea. Facebook is expected to detail tomorrow a partnership to distribute AMBER alerts to its community of hundreds of millions of users, according to PC Mag and the Inside Facebook blog
Facebook is partnering with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The devil is in the details. How will the notifications work and what information will be made available, and how often? Will they generate good leads, or mass hysteria? We'll have to wait and see.
But already, police departments across the land -- including Baltimore's -- are aggressively using Facebook to post updates about crime and public safety issues for their communities. The platform could become a very powerful tool for tracking down missing children, though, considering how quickly news, information and photographs can spread virally on the site.
Facebook's announcement on this topic is happening through a live video feed here, in Washington DC. Or watch below:
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Comments
This should be an interesting development to keep tabs on--I'm always curious about how the huge amount of time and attention given to social media can be turned into energy spent on societal good and solving big problems. Thanks for the alert!
Posted by: Tracy Gold | January 13, 2011 9:55 AM