The Amber Alert program works to bring missing children to the public's attention and harness the group effort to find children. In Canada, Ontario's Amber Alert program is using the popular social network, Facebook, to help spread the word.
Ontario's Amber Alert program has set up a Facebook page to broadcast Amber Alerts issued in the province. As with other pages, anyone who subscribes will receive the alert about the missing child, writes CBC News.
The goal here is to get the information out quickly and to many people. Facebook has over 400 million active users worldwide, and more than seven million of them are in Ontario alone.
People tend to spend more time online than they used to, where before they would watch the television or listen to the radio. People also particularly like to spend time on Facebook. Using the social networking giant as a tool to broadcast their message instantly and directly to subscribers will increase the success of the Amber Alert program as the content is delivered right to the user.
Another upside is the use of mobile Facebook. Most people before would hear of Amber Alerts sitting at home watching the news and perhaps had already turned in for the night. The advantage to the mobile Facebook angle is that people will be out in the world and receiving these new alerts which greatly increases the chance for success.
Canada has three Amber Alert pages consisting of one for New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island in addition to the new page in Ontario. Hopefully this concept catches on, is successful, and is spread throughout other countries as well. The United States also offers an Amber Alert page which functions in the same fashion.
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