MySpace, Department of Homeland Security Team Up With Hurricane Alerts
September 4, 2008 by national
Filed under Stories of Interest
In what is heralded as the seeds of an Internet-age emergency broadcast system, MySpace has teamed with the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to spread news on hurricanes through users of the online social network.
As Hurricane Gustav blasted the US Gulf Coast early this week, DHS officials telephoned MySpace executives to “fast-track” a project to build a disaster alert system that capitalizes on the hot Internet social networking trend.
A software application that automatically feeds hurricane information from federal disaster agencies to MySpace users was launched Tuesday.
“What you are seeing us doing with DHS and FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) is the beginning of bigger things to come in the future,” MySpace chief security officer Hemanshu Nigam told AFP on Thursday.
“Tragedy often inspires people to do great things and this has happened here.”
MySpace users can download a small application, or “widget,” that links profile pages to federal information including finding dislocated Gustav victims; help in storm-slammed areas, and online tracking of coming storms.
The application meshes naturally with social networking pages on which people share pictures, videos, stories and news quickly online with loved ones, according to MySpace
