Facebook rolled out a new feature Wednesday aimed at allowing users of the internet’s largest social network to offer assistance to one another in the event of natural disasters and other localized emergencies.
Supplemental to the Safety Check feature introduced in 2014, Facebook’s new Community Help function is intended to provide users with a platform for providing goods and services when they are needed most.
Facebook has already deployed Safety Check in the aftermath of hundreds of tragedies ranging from terror attacks to earthquakes in order to help victims easily designate themselves as safe. Going forward, Facebook plans to activate Community Help during some of those same instances so that affected users can connect with one another and offer and acquire assistance.
When activated, affected Facebook users will see two new links on the Safety Check page for their particular crisis. The first, “Find Help,” will allow victims to seek assistance such as food, supplies and shelter. The second, “Give Help,” aims to connect empathetic users with individuals in a time of need.
Account holders who use the feature will then be able to browse by category and location before being connected to each other through the social network’s Messenger platform.
“After a crisis, there’s this incredible sense of empathy in the community and there’s an overwhelming sense of wanting to help people,” Safety Check product designer Preethi Chethan said at a press event Tuesday in San Francisco, the Bay Area News Group reported.
“It’s going to help easily match people who are looking to help with those who need help within the community,” Ms. Chetan said, according to Reuters.
“We want to create a space on Facebook … that connects communities in the aftermath of a crisis and helps people feel safe faster, recover and rebuild,” TechCrunch quoted her as saying.
Facebook only plans for now to activate Community Help in the event of accidental or natural disasters, but said it’ll consider expanding criteria to include “additional types of incidents.” The feature won’t be made immediately available to all of the network’s nearly 2 billion active users, either. Community Help is being rolled out first across the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and Saudi Arabia before Facebook considers additional audiences.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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