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Safety Portal
by Meta
ROLE
Product Design
UX Research
TIMELINE
June - August 2022
PROJECT STACK
Figma
Figjam
Notion
SKILLS
Product Design
Prototyping
OUTCOMES
⚡ 2x Faster Launch Speed
🌍 Global & Multilingual Scale
👥 Improved Alert Flexibility
Project Overview
INSPIRATION
Meta's AMBER Alerts save lives — but the systems behind them were slowing teams down.
At Meta, AMBER Alerts on Facebook and Instagram were introduced to leverage the platforms’ unique strength: visual reach at massive scale. With photo-forward feeds and millions of users in local communities, these platforms can dramatically increase awareness in the most time sensitive moments.
However, behind the scenes, the process of creating and publishing these alerts relied heavily on manual workflows, emails, and repetitive data entry introducing delays at the very moment speed mattered most.
PROBLEM
Alert creation was fragmented, manual, and time-sensitive — a dangerous combination.
AMBER Alerts were created through a multi-step email-based process involving two primary user groups:
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Law Enforcement submitted case details via email
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Global Security Operations (GSOC) manually translated those emails into alerts and published them to Facebook and Instagram
This workflow created several challenges:
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Emails frequently arrived incomplete or inconsistent
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GSOC operators spent valuable time reformatting, validating, and clarifying details
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Multilingual alerts (e.g., English and French in Canada) required duplicated effort
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Total launch times averaged 12–13 minutes, reducing reach during the most critical first hour
In child abduction cases, every minute counts. Reducing friction in this process became the guiding principle for the project.
Previous form that GSOC filled in with abduction details from law enforcement email.
How might we design a portal that enables law enforcement to create AMBER Alerts directly, allowing Global Security to focus solely on fast, accurate publishing?
Through journey mapping and stakeholder collaboration, I identified an opportunity to:
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Shift alert creation upstream to law enforcement and government agencies
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Reduce manual workload for Global Security Operations
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Create a scalable system that could support global expansion and future alert types
SOLUTION OVERVIEW
A centralized platform for creating, managing, and publishing AMBER Alerts globally.
The Safety Portal is a web-based platform that allows verified law enforcement departments to create and submit AMBER Alerts directly to Meta. Global Security Operations then reviews and publishes alerts to Facebook and Instagram with significantly reduced turnaround time.
The portal supports the full alert lifecycle — from creation to expiration — while introducing flexibility for international and multilingual use cases.
Here are some of the key flows on Safety Portal...
Before entering case details, users configure alert parameters that shape the workflow:
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Number of children involved
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Required languages (e.g., English and French)
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Regional distribution requirements
This upfront configuration ensures the form adapts to global reporting needs.
Users complete structured case details using a mix of:
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Required fields for critical information
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Dropdowns for standardized attributes (e.g., physical descriptors)
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Free-response fields for contextual details
For multilingual alerts, standardized fields auto-populate across languages to reduce repetition.
As users fill in information, they can preview exactly how alerts will appear in:
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Facebook feeds
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Instagram feeds
This helps catch errors early and builds confidence in what will be published publicly. Additionally, users upload one or more photos of the missing child(ren).
Once submitted, alerts move into an approval pipeline visible from the dashboard. Users can track:
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Platform(s) used
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Distribution location
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Status changes
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Creation, launch, and expiration timestamps
This added transparency replaces uncertainty with clarity.
OUTCOMES
Saving Critical Time
⚡ 2x Faster Projected Launch Speed
Global Expansion Capability
🌍 Supports 20+ countries with expansion
Improved Alert Flexiblity
👥 Enables multi-language, multi-child alert creation
That's the overview!
Continue reading for the full process
DEFINE PHASE
Design Opportunities
After identifying inefficiencies in the AMBER Alert workflow, I explored ways to reduce launch time and improve first-hour reach. I created a user journey map of the existing process, which revealed pain points around manual data entry, inconsistent submissions, and operational overhead.
From several explored directions, one opportunity stood out: a centralized web portal that enables law enforcement to create and submit alerts directly, while Global Security focuses on review and publishing.
Why a Portal?
The main benefits I proposed the portal could bring were:
1. Reduce alert creation time by replacing email-based workflows.
The portal will empower faster creation of alerts; from Law Enforcement submitting their alert forms, to it getting posted live on IG and FB platforms.
2. Enable global participation, especially for countries without automated systems.
The only country that had an automated process is the United States, portal will allow us to expand an automated system to our international partners.
3. Support future expansion as new alert types and regions are added.
As things expand, such as adding new alert types, having a centralized portal system can keep things organized.
IDEATION PHASE
Exploring Designs
I designed the portal from the ground up while adhering to Meta’s design standards and accessibility requirements.
Early Iterations / Sketches
I began with sketches and low-fidelity wireframes, sharing early concepts with designers and stakeholders to validate scope and flow. As designs progressed, I partnered closely with Content Design to ensure field order and language were intuitive and globally appropriate.
Additional Iterations
Later iterations focused on high-fidelity screens, a fully interactive prototype, and clear documentation for engineering handoff.
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1. Languages and Number of Children. Portal empowers alerts to be generated in multiple languages, and expands to include multiple children from the same abduction, which wasn't possible before.
2. Expansion into More Countries. We currently support 26 countries, and now we will be able to expand and help even more! Empowering systems that don’t exist outside the United States.
3. Produce Faster Projected Process Times. Our data science team was able to produce projected values that show how much faster portal will make launching alerts in the future.
Impact
Through my work on designing the portal...
