Facebook is taking another step towards being the digital town crier by posting Amber Alerts to find missing children, the company announced Tuesday.
How it will work: Local law enforcement will determine a case qualifies for an alert and the geographic range for the emergency message.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which issues the alert, will send out on Facebook information such as a photograph of the missing child, a license plate number, the name and description of the child and suspected abductor.
The alerts, which will appear on Facebook users’ News Feed, will not trigger notifications on a person’s phone.
The company says it was inspired to provide a more systematic way of getting the word out by an incident last year. An 11-year-old missing girl was found in a motel as the result of a Amber alert shared among friends on Facebook.
The company added:
We know the chances of finding a missing child increase when more people are on the lookout, especially in the critical first hours. Our goal is to help get these alerts out quickly to the people who are in the best position to help.
Above: Photo of Amber alert example from Facebook