Amber Alerts to show immediately in Facebook Timeline

From Friday Amber Alerts will show up on Dutch Facebook users' timelines immediately after the alert has been issued. This means that the Alert, which is usually issued to find missing children, will reach millions of extra people, NOS reports. The police only issue an Amber Alert if they suspect that the life of a missing or abducted child is in danger. The name and photograph of the missing child is spread through news channels, SMS messages and billboards in busy locations. In two out of three cases, missing children are found through tips from citizens who saw the Amber Alert. Amber Alert already has a Facebook page with 167 thousand followers. Up until now, the Amber Alerts only showed up on these followers' Facebook Timelines. From Friday, each on of the more than 7 million Dutch Facebook users will see the message on their timelines, both on the Facebook website and smartphone app. "Then we will reach many more people much more quickly", Frank Hoen from Amber Alert told NOS.