Facebook has partnered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to distribute AMBER Alert notifications on users' news feeds.
The largest social network on the Internet will use its distribution system to send out targeted alerts about missing children based on users' locations.
"For most people, these alerts will be rare because they will only go to people who are in a position to help – those specifically within the designated search area," said Facebook Safety, Trust and Security Manager Emily Vacher. "If you get an alert on Facebook it means there is an active search for a missing child going on around you. The alert will provide the critical information you need to potentially help reunite a child with his or her family.”
Facebook is not the first company to incorporate AMBER Alert notifications into its product. Apple launched automated push notifications from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children with the launch of its iOS 6 operating system in 2012.
The center currently distributes approximately 180 AMBER Alerts each year.
Katrina Bush reports on how Facebook helped bring home a Maryland girl, kidnapped by her father.
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