Next up for Facebook and Twitter? Terror Alerts from US government.

We are seeing social networks like Facebook being used by police and other government agencies to alert people of events as they happen. From Amber Alerts to earthquakes around the world we are getting our news as it is happening increasingly from services other than the typical radio, television, and print.

Now the US government is looking at using Facebook and Twitter to announce changes in its terror alerts. This is part of a larger restructuring of the current way terror alerts are classified and then sent out as notifications to the public.

The U.S. government’s new system to replace the five color-coded terror alerts will have two levels of warnings — elevated and imminent — that will be relayed to the public only under certain circumstances for limited periods of time, sometimes using Facebook and Twitter, according to a draft Homeland Security Department plan obtained by The Associated Press.

Some terror warnings could be withheld from the public entirely if announcing a threat would risk exposing an intelligence operation or an ongoing investigation, according to the government’s confidential plan.

Like a gallon of milk, the new terror warnings will each come with a stamped expiration date.

via Yahoo News.