Facebook adds targeted AMBER Alerts in its News Feed

January 14, 2015

Facebook will now include targeted AMBER Alerts in its News Feed on both its mobile and desktop versions. The new feature was put in as part of a new partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to help find missing kids faster.

While many Facebook users have shared stories about missing kids and AMBER alerts in the past, this new formal relationship will offer faster and more accurate information about such alerts. Facebook says:

When local or state police determine that a case qualifies for an AMBER Alert, the alert is issued by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and distributed through the Facebook system with any available information, including a photograph of the missing child, a license plate number, the name and description of the child and suspected abductor. Law enforcement determines the range of the target area for each alert. The number of alerts people will see depends on how many alerts are issued in their area — some people may see a few each year and many people will likely get no alerts at all. The alerts will appear in News Feed, but will not trigger any notifications to a person's phone.

Be sure to check out our own feature on how to set up and receive AMBER Alerts on an iPhone.

Source: Facebook