Facebook have come under some severe criticism in recent years for their role in the breakdown of face-to-face communication however, it cannot be disputed that they’ve contributed immensely to communication as a whole.
The social media giant unveiled their newest feature ‘Safety Check’ yesterday, a feature that allows those in areas affected by natural disasters to reassure their friends and family that they are either safe or indeed out of the area.
While it may be something to raise the image of the company and lure eyes away from their sale of information to advertisers it is a tremendous, whole-hearted, idea.
A push notification is sent to your phone if the area listed on your profile is the one affected or if your most recent location on the ‘Nearby Friends’ feature is either.
It’s an immensely simple idea with a very basic interface that offers two buttons: ‘I’m safe’ or ‘I’m not in the area’.
If you have friends in the area of a natural disaster and the tool has been activated, you will receive a notification about those friends that have marked themselves as safe. Clicking on this notification will take you to a bookmark that will show you a list of their updates.
We can’t see Mark putting on any major concerts to save the children any time soon but Safety Check seems like a really good intuitive feature that may spare one or two from the heart-wrenching fear of not knowing.
By Michael Cogley
Image: Atlanta Black Star
Watch the full video on Zuckerberg’s latest creation here:
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