Facebook introduced ‘Safety Check’ feature that connects users with their loved ones and families after any natural disaster in the area.
Status, location, mood, almost everything has been shared on Facebook since its launch a few years back. However, it is in the time of disaster that the people actually need to communicate with their loved ones and require knowing their status and whereabouts. So, here is the – Safety Check feature being introduced by the team of Facebook through which users can update their current status just by tapping a push notification that will pop-up on the devices near the affected area.
The feature is apparently very easy and simple to use, meant for the 1.32 billion consumers of the social networking site around the world. The natural disasters that made people intuitively use the connectivity of Facebook has actually inspired and motivated the engineers to develop such a unique feature. This feature will help people to mark themselves safe on the forum accessed by the ones who care. The Safety Feature tracks the location from city listed in a user’s profile, last location from the Nearby Friends feature, or the city you’re connecting and using the internet from and activate the feature. Whether earthquake or hurricane or a tsunami, the cities that are affected by these disasters are automatically highlighted within this new feature and the users near the affected area by the natural disaster will get a push notification on their devices, asking If you’re safe?
The users are only required to check in the safety box and select an option from two options listed there – ‘I’m Safe” and “I’m not in that area”. 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. Users can also mark their friends within their own status to send the safety message on behalf of their friends and family. However, those who are tagged will have to approve of the same.
With the huge exposure of this social networking site, this safety feature has introduced new meaning to the field of communication yet again. If you have been worried about a friend or family within an area affected by calamity, just check your news feed. The choice selected by the user will generate a news feed story easily perceptible to various friends on their contact list. The safety tag will be visible to friends and family who are registered within the user’s friend list only.
Furthermore, this safety feature is available in all the devices that are capable of launching the social networking site – iOS, Android and Tablets as well as desktops. The developing team has introduced the feature for global access especially for the developing countries where communication cuts of in extreme calamity very easily.
