Many people in times of panic and terror try to reach out to loved ones through text, email, and phone calls; however, the Marketing Company Beverly Hills reports that there is a new and ever growing source for checking in with friends and family when a crisis strikes: Facebook.
With the significant presence Facebook holds with 1.6 billion users worldwide, it provides Facebook with the unique ability to connect and notify people in times of emergency.
Back in 2014 a Facebook intern created this new Safety Check feature at a hackathon. Facebook is alerted about major events and then monitors the activity on Facebook to determine whether or not to deploy Safety Check. Safety Check allows for people in the affected area to announce if they are okay. Also, it allows them to invite friends in the area to use Safety Check as well.
All the user has to do is click on the “I’m Safe” button and that message is shared with all of their friends.
Since its development in 2014, it has been used in 28 different emergencies throughout the world. Currently Facebook’s Safety Check is sent to users that are known to be in the area that was affected, however, Facebook is now in the process of reconstructing and improving this feature.
Facebook is working on bettering the program to improve support for large scale emergencies.
There is going to be a new setting that allows employees to deploy the message in different languages. Previously, employees had to manually input the code to create this variation in language. Yet another new feature includes the ability for communities to turn on Safety Check if they feel like it is needed.
This handy tool is being utilized globally and it is helping millions of people let their family and friends know that they are safe.