Facebook Introduces A New Feature: Safety Check
“In times of disaster or crisis, people turn to Facebook to check on the loved one and get updates. It’s in these moments that communications are most critical both for people in the affected areas and for their friends and families anxious for news.” – Facebook’s Developer Team
Now with the Safety Check Feature, Facebook allows you to tell your friends/families you’re okay by just one simple click.
The tool works by triggering a push notification on devices that are near an affected area. Facebook determines location from cities listed in profiles, the last location from the Nearby Friends feature, or the city you’re connecting and using the Internet from. If a Facebook user is safe they simply hit the “I’m safe” button and a notification and News Feed story will be generated automatically.
The idea was cooked up after the 2012 earthquake and tsunami in Japan’s devastation. According to the Japanese Red Cross, more than 12.5 million people were affected nationwide and more than 400,000 people were evacuated. “During that crisis we saw how people used technology and social media to stay connected with those they cared about,” said Facebook.
“Our engineers in Japan took the first step toward creating a product to improve the experience of reconnecting after a disaster. They built the Disaster Message Board to make it easier to communicate with others. They launched a test of the tool a year later and the response was overwhelming”, shared Naomi Gleit, Vice President of Product Management at Facebook.
The Safety Check Feature also combines all check-ins into a bookmark section, allowing Facebook Users to check an area to make sure friends are safe. After early tests, the tool was officially introduced. The social networking giant will work with authorities to flag disasters, and Safety Check will debut worldwide on Android, iOS, feature phones and the desktop version of Facebook.
This video demonstrates how the Safety Check works:
Once again, thanks to Facebook’s Developer Team for the great and useful tool. We all have learnt a lot from those events. And now let Technology keep us safe no matter where we are.
Please share with your friends and families about this useful feature. And don’t forget to share your comments with us.
