Facebook Tests 'Safe' User Tag For Disasters

aesoteric writes "Facebook has embarked on a nationwide test of a new disaster message board for users across Japan. The feature allows users to mark themselves as being 'safe' in the event of a disaster. Doing so introduces a 'safe' insignia next to their name on their profile. The Facebook announcement appeared to be geoblocked."

Comments

Lame

[Anonymous Coward]

Like in the middle of a disaster people are going to start posting to facebook. Oh wait..

Re:Lame

[Pikoro]

Well, since there is a Facebook app for damn near every phone over here, and you know that nobody in Japan goes anywhere without their phone, it's a safe bet that they will have a way to post their status.

Not a bad idea really.

Grr.. Damnit slashdot, I am not on an open proxy! Just because port 8080 is open on a router is not a reason to stop people from posting. Jeez.

Re:Lame

[jrumney]

This is nothing more than a marketing drive to try to attract attention to themselves from the Japanese public who have so far ignored Facebook almost completely.

Re:Lame

[psnyder]

Following the Fukushima quake, all phone networks were down to allow for emergency traffic only (I live in Tokyo). Internet was the only way to get a message out for a while. I sent a quick email to family who hadn't woken up in the states yet, because I was sure it would be on the news networks when they woke up.

However, the following few days, people I barely knew or hadn't spoken to in ages, started coming out the woodwork, asking if I was okay. This feature is not a bad idea. It sure beats my mother plastering messages all over my wall, trying to tell people I'm okay.

Re:Lame

[gbjbaanb]

except this is a problem - the people actually in the disaster often won't have access to FB, whereas the people nowhere near can happily say they are safe.

Hey mom, I'm ok, I'm not under attack in Syria.

(because I'm at home in the UK, with nothing more dangerous than thinking whether to have cheese or ham on my sandwich).

There again, there's the after-effect problem... actually in a disaster, post "I'm safe" to FB, then look up to see the chunk of falling masonry .... somebody's going to sue FB for sure when that happens!

Re:Lame

[dkleinsc]

Here here! Very frequently, after a disaster, all the phone lines to the affected area are tied up with people either calling to announce they're safe, or calling people that might be in the area to see if they're safe. The official that shut down the phone network did exactly the right thing, because this is precisely at the same time as you really want the lines to be focused solely on 911 and other emergency traffic. It's absolutely human instinct to do anything in your power to ensure that your loved ones are safe, but it's counterproductive when there are huge numbers of people affected.

So having something that would use far less bandwidth for "I'm OK" would solve a real problem. I'd actually recommend they make a little app that sends off something like a 100-byte message that would mark this on the website, so that users wouldn't have to browse to it. Even a false "I'm safe" followed by the person getting killed is actually an improvement, because the point of a tool like that is to prevent panic outside of the disaster area. The simple fact is that in a disaster, you or your loved one could well die very quickly, and there's absolutely nothing you can really do to prevent it. The best thing you can do inside the disaster zone is to aid the injured if you have the training, get out of Dodge, and/or help others get out of Dodge. The best thing you can do outside the disaster zone is stay as calm as possible, provide aid to any of the victims or rescuers that happen to show up, and otherwise get the heck out of the way and let the rescuers do their job.

Re:Lame

[DZign]

+1
Last year in Belgium a large storm hit Pukkelpop festival (large tents collapsed, some people died). Phone lines were all overloaded (both outgoing and incoming phones) but people could still tweet/fb they were ok.

Re:Lame

[thomthom]

Aye. When the bomb went off in Oslo I was in Sweden for a vacation. I started getting odd "Are you OK?" messages from people, even people I don't frequently talk to. I found it very nice to use Facebook to inform the general bulk of my acquaintances who where concerned. I also found Facebook to be a useful source of finding out of my friends and acquaintances in Oslo was ok - it was quite chaotic and for each person to contact everyone they know - or reply to each request would take a lot of time. Ditto for the London bombings - then the social websites weren't so widely used, but I found it difficult getting any life-sign from my friends in London because the phone network collapsed. Then it took days before I got replies. So yes, this is an area where I find social connection websites comes very handy and useful. It's not really more unthinkable to drop a message on a website as oppose to sending texts or phoning.

Re:Lame

[rabenja]

Hear, Hear

New Orleans

[vlm]

Lets try to file a bug report using New Orleans as an example in haiku format in honor of this being rolled out first in Japan...

Hurricane passes overhead
District Nine clicks Safe
Levees collapse; all drown; Whoops;

haiku formatted bug reports are superior to free text, although I'm guessing I shouldn't quit my day job and become a professional poet...

Re:New Orleans

[Ihmhi]

Your command of words
Is much like your sex appeal
Lacking and awkward.

Expiry time?

[FunPika]

Okay so what if someone marks themselves as safe...then a few minutes later another earthquake hits and a roof falls on their head or something similar. Will the tag expire after a certain amount of time?

Re:Expiry time?

[bws111]

What if someone phones and says they're safe...
What if someone emails and says they're safe...
What if someone tweets and says they're safe...
What if someone walks by and says they're safe...

Obviously, "I'm safe" refers to a point in time. So put a timestamp on it. Better yet, put a 'request update' button on the safe status so the person will know that someone is concerned and he should re-post the safe message.

Better hope Death has no sense of humor

[SmallFurryCreature]

Kinda tempting fate eh? I can just picture the gods going "we will see about that".

What happens when the disaster is over?

[Dark$ide]

Facebook statuses (like married, in a relationship, etc) are sticky.

What happens when the earthquake is done, the tsunami hasn't arrived yet and your status says "I'm safe".

Next thing the tidal wave hits, wiping out your house, your phone line, your computer and the local cell phone mast, your status is still showing "I'm safe" when you're anything but safe.

When will Facebook automagically reset your status to something neutral? Is that going to happen at midnight UTC, midnight PST or midnight local (JST if you're in Japan)? How is braindead Facebook going to handle that? (BTW my answer to that is badly.) How is Facebook going to work with daylight saving time (which may or may not be in effect)?

I cancelled my Facebook membership on 9th Dec 2011 (because I got bored with all the changes they kept making and all the over commercialisation), I have to say I've not missed getting 20 new photos of my brother's cats posted everyday.