Facebook’s latest feature Safety Check notifications are pushed to users when natural disaster hits and area you have listed as your location, where you’ve checked in on Nearby Friends, or where you recently logged in from.
Facebook says this project as an extension of Disaster Message board its Japanese engineers rolled out after 2011 earthquake and tsunami there. Safety check feature is rolling out globally on Android, iOS, feature phones and the desktop.
A simple I’m safe / I’m not in the area set of buttons can push an update that’s visible only to people on your friends list, intended to quickly give some piece of mind when they notice a USGS report for your zipcode. If you simply have friends who are in the area of a natural disaster, there’s a notification when they check-in as safe that can take you to a list of their updates.
During a major disaster, Safety Check will help you:
- Let friends and family know youre safe
- Check on others in the affected area
- Mark your friends as safe
