Twitter is talking its alerts service to the UK and the Republic of Ireland, with emergency services and government bodies signing up to the service, which will flag up emergency messages with text and pop-up alerts. Police forces in both countries have signed up to Twitter Alerts, which will be used in “crisis, disaster and […]
Twitter is talking its alerts service to the UK and the Republic of Ireland, with emergency services and government bodies signing up to the service, which will flag up emergency messages with text and pop-up alerts.
Police forces in both countries have signed up to Twitter Alerts, which will be used in “crisis, disaster and emergency” situations.
The Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales will use the service to warn of flooding, while the Foreign Office will send alerts in the event of a terrorist attack or natural disaster overseas.
London Fire Brigade and London Ambulance Service will post critical updates during emergencies in the capital.
The service, which also highlights alerts on Twitter with an orange bell symbol, launched in the US, Japan and Korea in September.
It has since been used to warn of tornadoes, child abductions and gun attacks (see example below).
A spokesman for Twitter said British and Irish organisations are able to choose what type of information is posted as an alert.
“All of the organisations participating in the launch already use Twitter as a tool to communicate important information to their followers,” he said.
“The added functionality of Twitter Alerts will help them reach their followers with important and accurate information during emergencies, natural disasters or when other communications services aren’t accessible.”
John Curtin, head of incident management at the Environment Agency, said digital communication had improved the way it shares information during times of crisis.
Twitter users can activate and disable alerts on the subscription pages of participating organisations’ accounts.
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