Facebook is introducing Amber Alerts into your newsfeed

Earlier today, Facebook announced their partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to blast out Amber Alerts into your Newsfeed.

How many times have you been on Facebook only to find something as moving and powerful as the message of community outreach? For example, a friend trying to raise money for a loved one, or organizations seeking volunteers for an upcoming event. It’s a pretty well-known fact; if people need to spread a message to thousands of people at once, they go to Facebook.

To prove my point, in 2014 an 11-year-old girl was safely returned home when a motel owner recognized her from an Amber Alert that a friend had shared earlier on Facebook. The woman called the police and luckily, the girl was found unharmed. This is one of the many reasons why Facebook partnered up with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Here’s how it works:

According to a recent press release, “The new initiative will deliver AMBER Alerts to people’s News Feeds in targeted search areas after a child has been abducted and the National Center has issued an alert.”

The alerts will include photographs, as well as details about the missing child. The alerts will be fed through mobile and desktop platforms. To go one step further, users can also share the alerts with friends with a link to the National Center’s missing child poster, which always has the up-to-date information about case.

People have been sharing Amber Alerts for years on Facebook, so this partnership makes sense. In the end, we can only hope that this initiative saves lives and returns children back home safely. I think it will.