Facebook users will soon be able to receive AMBER (America's Missing Broadcast Emergency Response) Alerts on the site about children abducted in their area. The deal is made possible through a
partnership between the company and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, according to
Inside
Facebook, which notes: "It's another sign that web services like Facebook and Twitter are becoming the fastest ways to disseminate information to the largest number of people."
Given its
increasing prominence in consumers lives, it's easy to imagine Facebook soon disseminating other types of emergency information regarding everything from natural disasters and violent crimes to
product recalls and Web viruses. The AMBER Alert bulletins, which have traditionally gone out via television, radio, and through roadside signs, started being sent to AOL users who requested them in
2002. AMBER Alerts are also available via SMS, while the Ontario, Canada Provincial Police set up a Facebook app last year to help inform locals about abductions, Inside Facebook notes.
Read the whole story at Inside Facebook »