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Facebook 'Safety Check' Lets Friends Know You're OK After a Major Disaster

Posted by timothy on from the mom-please-stop-the-prank-alerts dept.

rtoz (2530056) writes Facebook has launched a new Tool called "Safety Check." The Facebook Safety Check tool will notify your friends so that they know you're OK after a major disaster. In times of disaster or crisis, people turn to Facebook to check on loved ones and get updates. "During a major disaster, Safety Check will help you: Let friends and family know you're safe; Check on others in the affected area; Mark your friends as safe ... When the tool is activated after a natural disaster and if you're in the affected area, you'll receive a Facebook notification asking if you're safe. [Facebook] will determine your location by looking at the city you have listed in your profile, your last location if you've opted in to the Nearby Friends product, and the city where you are using the internet. ... If you're safe, you can select "I'm Safe" and a notification and News Feed story will be generated with your update. Your friends can also mark you as safe." More creepy, or more reassuring?

3 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. Would have loved this in 2005 in London by mahju · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I lived in London in 2005 when the terror attacks happened there, and my morning commute took me through kings cross. That day with the mobile network switched off, it was hard to let people know I was ok, know if my girlfriend was, and many other people I knew took. Sure there was landlines to call direct if you knew where people were, or email as a bit of a broadcast I'm ok, but something like this would have been far better.

    1. Re:Would have loved this in 2005 in London by Obfuscant · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That day with the mobile network switched off, it was hard to let people know I was ok, ... but something like this would have been far better.

      So you'd use the mobile network to contact Facebook to let everyone else know ... umm, wait. What mobile network? And you'd use the shut-off mobile network to check FB to see if your girlfriend had used the same shut-off mobile network to let FB know she was ok.

      Here's an idea. Prior to any disaster, plan. Pick someone in a different area that y'all who live in the same area can text with your info, and then y'all can use SMS to let everyone know you're ok. SMS is most likely to survive a disaster, much more than voice or data.

  2. Re:Buried under rubble by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    my guess is, to limit liability, that you can only choose 'safe'; like you can only choose to 'like' something. having a 'not safe' option opens facebook up to liability if they do not notify authorities of someone that they know is not safe and has the usual privacy implications if they do tell 3rd parties about you. not to forget the flood of activity and rumors that will spread like wildfires in california if the site posts someone as being 'not safe' after a disaster.