I have learned that the United States Homeland Security is considering the use of Twitter and Facebook for anti-terror alerts in their country.
A news item from the World News section of the Philippine News Daily quotes the US Homeland Security as saying:
“Terror alerts from the government will soon have just two levels of warnings- elevated and imminent, and those will be relayed to the public only under certain circumstances. Color codes are out; Facebook and Twitter will sometimes be in.”
The news article also states however, that there is no need to publicize emerging terror warnings requiring the use of intelligence operation or ongoing operation.
The advisory system intends to notify Americans of a threat at the soonest possible time and so that they may have proper understanding.
This means that even the government acknowledges the effectiveness of social media networks in providing the public up-to-date information regarding issues that affect them. It is important however, to put necessary safeguards to minimize, if not totally eliminate the possibility of hacking the system because hackers could create more trouble.
According to the article, the US Home Security will impose the new advisory system by April 27, 2011.
Logos of Twitter and Facebook above Courtesy of:
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