By Andrew Blake
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| FILE - In this May 16, 2012, file photo, the Facebook logo is displayed on an iPad in Philadelphia. Facebook is updating its “trending” feature, which shows popular topics discussed and shared on its site, in an effort to root ... more > |
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.
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