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Facebook Lite adds Community Help crisis response tool
Facebook announced today that it's bringing its Community Help tool to Facebook Lite. The feature, which evolved out of Safety Check, helps users connect in the event of a crisis, allowing them to share updates, communicate with others and find or provide help. Now the tool will be available on Facebook Lite in more than 100 countries, giving more Facebook users access to information on essential needs such as where to find food, shelter or transportation after a disaster. "Our priority is to build tools that provide people with ways to get the help they need to recover and rebuild after a crisis," Facebook Crisis Response Product Manager Jeong-Suh Choi said in a statement. "By making Community Help available on Facebook Lite, event more people can get the help they need in times of crisis."
Facebook Community Help crisis tool is no longer limited to individuals
Facebook has been evolving its Safety Check feature over the last year, adding complementary capabilities to go alongside it and building it into a crisis hub. Last February, Facebook introduced Community Help, a feature that allowed users to find and provide help during a crisis and in September, it launched Crisis Response, a one-stop spot where people could access Safety Check, Community Help and media, like articles and videos, related to an ongoing crisis. Now, Facebook has announced some changes to Community Help that will allow organizations and businesses to post in the forum rather than just individuals.
Facebook's 'Crisis Response' provides info during a disaster
Last year, it was reported that Facebook was working on an always-ready crisis hub that would bring together its Safety Check feature with posts and videos relating to an ongoing emergency. Today, it announced that the tool is going live.
Facebook makes Safety Check a permanent feature
Facebook is acting on its promise to make Safety Check a permanent feature. The social network is rolling out a dedicated Safety Check hub that helps you find any ongoing crisis without first being prompted to declare yourself as safe. It's not exactly a prominent feature (you'll have to dig into Facebook's large list of secondary features to find it), but it'll help you find emergency information and potentially help others in need.
Facebook's Safety Check now includes status updates and fundraisers
Facebook's Safety Check is a useful feature, but its implementation has experienced some bumps along the way. Now, the company hope to smooth out some of those rough edges with new features it announced today.
Facebook adds ways to find and offer help through Safety Check
Facebook's Safety Check feature has proven useful as a quick and easy way for people to tell their family and friends they're safe during a crisis. But safety is one thing -- what if you still need food and shelter? Or perhaps medical supplies? That's why Facebook has introduced a new feature called Community Help. Now when you check in to say you're safe, you'll see some follow-up queries to either find help if you need it, or to give help if you have the means to do so.
Facebook Safety Check erroneously says a bomb exploded in Bangkok (updated)
Facebook's Safety Check program incorrectly said there was an explosion in Bangkok, Thailand, The Independent reported. For an hour beginning at 9PM local time on December 27th, anyone in Thailand's capital city saw reports of an explosion and a prompt to mark themselves as safe. However, there was no actual bomb explosion in Bangkok tonight.
Facebook has plans for an always-on Safety Check hub
Over a billion people now use Facebook on a daily basis, and that's just on their phone. That dominance is bringing in huge profits, but the site's popularity makes it an incredibly useful tool during emergencies. This is thanks to the company's Safety Check feature, which was launched to help help account for people during natural disasters but has since been used to mark people safe following attacks in Paris, Nice, the nightclub shooting in Orlando and other local tragedies. After claims that Facebook was exerting too much influence over events deemed important enough to activate Safety Check, the social media giant has put some control in users' hands, but it wants to do more. Wired reports that the company is developing what it's calling a "crisis hub," a place that offers live information and media about natural disasters and other events where people can say that they're safe.
Facebook's Safety Check was activated by protesters in Charlotte
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that the company was working on a way for users to activate its Safety Check feature back in August. During this week's protests in Charlotte, North Carolina, users of the social network employed the feature for the first time without the social network flipping the switch itself. Facebook confirmed to BuzzFeed News that it didn't activate the feature and this was the first time Safety Check was used during a protest.
Facebook is working on user-activated Safety Checks
Facebook's Safety Check has proven an invaluable tool for people to contact their friends and families in the immediate aftermath of large scale disasters. At a public Q&A session in Luiss University in Rome on Monday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the crowd that his company is also working on a means of letting any user activate the emergency system on their own.
Facebook invokes first US Safety Check for Orlando mass shooting
Unfortunately, Facebook has had reason to use Safety Check in the US for the first time. The social network switched on its tool for reassuring friends following the mass shooting at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida. While Facebook has already called on Safety Check since expanding its scope to include human tragedies (it used the check after an overpass fell in India), the American use reflects improvements made to the emergency system in the following months. It's now faster to invoke checks, the company says to Mashable, and there are tests under way that would let users trigger checks of their own. Let's just hope the feature isn't needed again for a long, long while.
Facebook expands scope of Safety Checks following Paris attacks
Facebook originally built its Safety Check feature to help you reassure friends and family in the wake of natural disasters. However, the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Beirut and beyond have prompted a change of heart. Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Facebook will invoke Safety Check for "human disasters" from Paris onward. Simply put, the social network wants to make the tool available "whenever and wherever" it can help -- the company is aware that its policies have been inconsistent (responding to some tragedies but not others, for example) and need improvement. There's no certainty that Facebook has completely addressed the complaints with Safety Check, but here's hoping that we don't have to find out for a long, long time to come. [Image credit: AP Photo/Peter Dejong]
Facebook and Google help find Nepal earthquake survivors
The Nepal earthquake has caused an immeasurable amount of tragedy this weekend, but some internet services are offering tools that might provide comfort if you have friends or family in the area. Facebook has rolled out its recently introduced Safety Check feature to tell you if contacts in the area are okay -- survivors only have to report in to ease your mind. Google, meanwhile, has revived its longstanding Person Finder to assist you in both locating loved ones and sharing news with others. You'll want to get in direct contact or reach out an embassy if you're still concerned about affected locals, but these internet tools could spare you from a lot of uncertainty. [Image credit: Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images]
Facebook 'Safety Check' lets friends know you're OK after a major disaster
Despite the frivolous nature of most social media interactions, Facebook's latest new feature is intended for use only in serious situations. Unveiled today in Japan, Safety Check notifications are pushed to users when a natural disaster hits and area you have listed as your location, where you've checked in on Nearby Friends, or where you recently logged in from. Tech companies like Google and Facebook have worked to connect people after significant disasters in the past, and Facebook says the project is an extension of the Disaster Message Board its Japanese engineers rolled out after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami there. Safety Check is rolling out globally on Android, iOS, feature phones and the desktop -- there's a demo video (embedded after the break) to explain how it all works.
