Twitter has announced Twitter Alerts, a tool for governments and other organizations to alert people about potential disasters or emergencies.
Twitter said that alerts will show up on subscribers’ phones as push and/or SMS notifications when Tweets are marked as alerts. Alerts look different from normal tweets in that they have an orange bell. According to Twitter, only select types of entities can issue alerts, including law enforcement; public safety agencies; and locate, state, and federal governments and their respective agencies. Organizations that believe they should be able to issue alerts are welcome to register with Twitter.
Twitter thinks Twitter alerts will be best used to wan people of imminent danger, offer preventive instructions, provide evacuation directions, as well as disseminate information about essential resources, transportation, and utility disruptions.
