On Wednesday, Facebook announced a series of upgrades to its Safety Check feature, a tool designed to help users communicate their safety to family and friends during a catastrophe.
One of the improvements to the feature is that it will now allow users in the United States to raise and donate money on the social media portal. The new tool will make it easier for people to give charitably to fellow mankind affected by violent attacks and natural disasters.
Additionally, the service will include more information about a crisis (e.g., tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, gun violence, etc.) and will allow users to leave a personal note with friends and family alongside the story.
Introduced in 2014, Safety Check has been activated over 600 times. The tool was used for the first time in the U.S. in Orlando, Florida when a gunman killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub.
It was used earlier this month during terror attacks in London and Manchester. Over 22,000 supporters of One Love Manchester raised over $450,000 according to a Facebook email to Social Pro Daily. It was recently activated when the 24-story Grenfell Tower in Kensington engulfed in flames during the night.
Naomi Gleit, VP of Social Good at Facebook, also said “Community Help will be available on desktop and for all crisis types where Safety Check is activated.”
Safety Check has stirred some backlash as some users located far from the Kensington tower fire were prompted to mark themselves as safe from the tragedy. Although it could have simply been skipped if it didn’t apply, it spread fear among some and users found the algorithm-based tool both unnecessary and annoying.
While recent enhancements to Facebook’s Safety Check serve a good purpose, it is not without its need for more fine-tuning.
Danni White is the digital content manager for TechFunnel.com
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