Twitter’s New Alert System Got Full Run During US Capital Lockdown
US Capital Police Used the new Twitter Alert Service to keep employees, civilians, and media in the know during the attempted breach of the US Capital Oct. 3, 2013
One of Twitter’s newest functions got a chance to prove its worth just a week after its launch.
During the brief time that the U.S. Capitol was under lockdown on Thursday after gunshots were fired near the building, the Senate Sergeant at Arms pushed out a notification using Twitter’semergency alert system. The company introduced this feature last week.
Twitter offered the following description of the new function:
Twitter Alerts are tweets published by select public agencies and emergency organizations during a crisis or emergency that contain up-to-date information relevant to an unfolding event, such as public safety warnings and evacuation instructions. Alerts will appear highlighted on your home timeline and are instantly sent to your device as a mobile notification.
Those who signed up to receive alerts from @SenateSAA saw the following series of tweets during the lockdown.
Though it may be the highest profile use of Twitter Alerts to date, this is not the first time a government agency has made use of the function. New York City’s emergency notification system, @NotifyNYC, sent an alert about a child abduction last Friday.
The U.S. Department of the Interior used a Twitter Alerts to inform people on Wednesday that National Parks, wildlife refuges and other lands it manages will be closed during the government shutdown.
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THIS WOULD BE GOOD FOR SCHOOLS AS WELL