However you feel about the Social Networking behemoth that is Facebook, we have all come to accept it is pretty much unavoidable in our everyday lives, no matter how often I log on only to be disappointed be the generic droll my friends and family post I still go back for more. It is everywhere, and for as far as I can tell the first time ever they’re putting their service to good use. Facebook has recently partnered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to bring AMBER Alerts to everyone’s News Feeds.
For those of you unfamiliar with AMBER alerts, It was a system setup to broadcast missing children information on televisions, radio networks and straight to our smartphones. The AMBER Alerts that will show up on Facebook are based on local results, assuming you have allowed facebook to use your location, so you’ll only get alerts that happen around your area.
Amber alerts include photographs and as much information as the organization has on the child. Once you see an AMBER Alert at the top of your feed you will be able to share it, thus posting it to your page, allowing the information to spread as quickly as possible, although presumably anyone else you would share it with should have it popup on theirs as well. The alerts will begin going out today and will show up on desktop, Android and iOS Facebook applications.
Facebook hopes by giving you as much information as possible with each alert (far more than currently shown by the native alert apps some smartphones come with) they send out, that they will produce more results.
It’s something most of us could easily over look but only time will tell if this addition will make a difference.