New Twitter restrictions could change how some police services share information

Heres a thought - don’t rely on privately owned social media sites for critical communication

For years, public safety organizations have used Twitter as an effective way to share information with the public in real time, Levy said.

And before Twitter they posted this information where it made sense: on their official websites.

For years, public safety organizations have used Twitter as an effective way to share information with the public in real time, Levy said.

And for years, rampant misinformation has spread virally in real time thanks to these same actions. The number of times I've been stuck in some sort of lock-down because of a supposed shooter in the area, that was actually half-way across town, is just more evidence that social media never should have been used for spreading any sort of official warning about situations.

This kind of info should be posted to the official site of the organization, and if it's actually something that people in the area **need ** to know about, sent directly to people's phones (in a manner similar to the Amber Alert system).