Facebook Updates Safety Check to Help People Find Food, Shelter After Crises
Facebook today updated Safety Check with the addition of Community Help, which offers help to those seeking food, shelter and transportation after a crisis.
“We saw people using Facebook to tell friends and family they were OK after crises, so in 2014 we launched Safety Check to make that behavior even easier,” says Naomi Gleit, VP Social Good. “Since then, Safety Check has been activated hundreds of times, but we know we can do more to empower the community to help one another.”
We talked with experts, humanitarian relief organizations and our own in-the-field researchers to learn how to make it easier for people to find and give help. With Community Help people can find and give help, and message others directly to connect after a crisis. Posts can be viewed by category and location, making it easier for people to find the help they need.
For the community to use Community Help after an incident, Safety Check must first be activated, which has requirements, such as global crisis reporting agencies NC4 and iJET International alerting Facebook that an incident has occurred.
