Facebook Safety Check

Facebook Safety Check is a feature managed by social networking company Facebook. The feature is activated by the company during natural or man-made disasters to quickly determine whether people in the affected geographical area are safe.[1]

History

Release

The feature was developed by Facebook engineers, inspired by people's use of social media to connect with friends and family in the wake of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.[2][3] Originally named the Disaster Message Board, it was renamed to Safety Check prior to release.[2] It was introduced on October 15, 2014.[4][5] Its first major deployment was on Saturday, April 25, 2015 in the wake of the April 2015 Nepal earthquake.[6] The tool was deployed again in the wake of the May 2015 Nepal earthquake,[7] during Pacific Hurricane Patricia in October 2015, and during the November 2015 Paris attacks, the latter being the first time the tool was used in response to a non-natural disaster. On March 22 2016 during reports of explosions at an airport and train station in Brussels, the feature was turned on again, but there was a delay in turning it on after it was revealed it was a suicide bomber attack.[8]

Deployment in the context of the Nepal earthquake

Further information: April 2015 Nepal earthquake

On Saturday, April 25, 2015, an earthquake struck Nepal, with an estimated loss of a few thousand lives. Within a few hours of the earthquake hitting, Facebook had activated Safety Check in the region.[6][9] It identified users as possibly being in the affected area by their current city as listed on their profile, as well as the place from which they had most recently accessed Facebook.[10] The desktop version of Safety Check also provided a brief synopsis of the event and emergency contact numbers.[10]

During the activation more than 7 million people in the affected area were marked safe, which generated notifications to over 150 million friends on the platform.[11]

The tool was deployed again in the wake of the May 2015 Nepal earthquake, and received attention when some people outside the affected area were reported by Facebook as marked safe.[7]

Deployment during November Paris attacks

Facebook deployed the feature during November 2015 Paris attacks.[12] This was the first time Facebook activated the feature for a violent attack (or any non-natural disaster), mentioning that the policy for activation and the product itself is an ongoing work in progress.[13]

Deployment in 22 March 2016 Brussels attacks

Facebook also deployed the feature in 22 March 2016 Brussels attacks. This was the fourth time Facebook activated the feature for a violent attack, The policy for activation is still an ongoing work in progress.

Other deployments

Facebook activated Safety Check in Nigeria in late November 2015 in the wake of Boko Haram bombings.[14] Announcing the activation on his Facebook timeline, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote that unfortunately, incidents like this were all too common and he would not announce individual activations of Safety Check in the future. However, he urged people to be optimistic and realize that the frequency of such incidents was going down on the whole.[15]

Facebook also activated Safety Check in Chennai in December 2015 in response to the 2015 South Indian floods.[16]

More recently Facebook activated Safety Check when terror attacks occurred in Ankara in February 2016[17] and in March 2016.[18]

After the 2016 Lahore bombing, Facebook activated the safety check, and accidentally sent notifications asking whether users were safe to Facebook users around the world, even those who were nowhere near Pakistan.[19]

Reception

Reception upon release

Upon the release of Safety Check, Richard Lawler wrote in Engadget praising the tool, writing "[I]t can take some pressure off of overloaded infrastructure with everyone trying to call affected areas after disasters hit, and of course, save you from a post-tragedy chewing out for failure to let people know you're fine." On the flip side, he posited that Safety Check might be "a cagey way to try to take some of the creepiness out of the apps' location tracking features."[3]

Reception of deployment for April 2015 Nepal earthquake

Commentators praised Facebook Safety Check in the wake of the April 2015 Nepal earthquake[10][20] and compared it to Google Person Finder, a tool by Google with a similar purpose.[21][22][23][24][25] However, commentators noted that due to low penetration of mobile devices and poor network connectivity in the region (which had worsened due to the earthquake), many of the people in the target audience of the tool would not be able to use it.[21][23][25][26] This was likened to similar problems faced by Google Person Finder during the 2010 Pakistan floods.[21][23]

Reception of deployment for May 2015 Nepal earthquake

After the May 2015 Nepal earthquake, BuzzFeed reported that many users outside the geographical area affected by the earthquake were marking themselves as safe using the tool, and that this was angering other users who thought they were being insensitive to the toll and tragedy of the event.[27] The story was picked up by other publications including the Huffington Post and fact-checking website Snopes, which noted that this was due to a bug in Facebook leading it to prompt people outside the affected area to confirm whether they are safe.[7][28][29][30]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Facebook Safety Check". Facebook. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  2. 1 2 Chowdhry, Amit (October 16, 2014). "Facebook 'Safety Check' Tells Your Friends That You Are Safe During A Disaster in the Area". Forbes. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Lawler, Richard (October 16, 2014). "Facebook 'Safety Check' lets friends know you're OK after a major disaster". Engadget. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  4. ↑ Gleit, Naomi; Zeng, Sharon; Cottle, Peter (October 15, 2014). "Introducing Safety Check". Facebook. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  5. ↑ Zuckerberg, Mark (October 15, 2014). "Today we announced the launch of Safety Check on Facebook.". Facebook. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  6. 1 2 "Safety Check for Nepal Earthquake". Facebook. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 LaCapria, Kim (May 13, 2015). "Facebook Safety Check Confusion After Nepal Earthquake". Snopes. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  8. ↑ Pallotta, Frank (November 13, 2015). "Facebook activates 'Safety Check' during Paris attack". CNNMoney. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  9. ↑ Zuckerberg, Mark (April 25, 2015). "This morning we activated Safety Check for people affected by the earthquake in Nepal.". Facebook. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 Levine, Brittany (April 25, 2015). "Facebook Safety Check connects those affected by devastating Nepal earthquake". Mashable. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Mark Zuckerberg – Timeline Photos – Facebook". Facebook. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  12. ↑ Lily Hay Newman (November 14, 2015). "Facebook Has Enabled Its "Safety Check" Feature So People in Paris Can Tell Loved Ones They're OK". Slate. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  13. ↑ Alex Schultz (November 14, 2015). "Facebook Safety Page Post". Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  14. ↑ McCormick, Rich (November 18, 2015). "Facebook Safety Check activated again after Nigeria bombing". The Verge. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
  15. ↑ Zuckerberg, Mark (November 18, 2015). "We've activated Safety Check again after the bombing in Nigeria this evening.". Facebook. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
  16. ↑ Iyengar, Rishi (December 2, 2015). "Facebook Has Activated Safety Check in India for the Chennai Floods". Time Magazine. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
  17. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/safetycheck/ankaraexplosion-feb17-2016/
  18. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/safetycheck/ankaraturkey-explosion-mar13-2016/
  19. ↑ Bhuiyan, Johanna (27 March 2016). "Facebook Accidentally Pushes Lahore Safety Check Notification Worldwide". re/code. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  20. ↑ Eadicicco, Lisa (April 26, 2015). "Facebook has a brilliant feature that can help anyone who may be in danger from the Nepal earthquake". Business Insider. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  21. 1 2 3 Lindsay, Rowena (April 27, 2015). "Facebook Safety Check helps users locate loved ones in Nepal (+video). How social media is changing the face of disaster relief.". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  22. ↑ "Google's 'Person Finder' and Facebook's 'Safety App' to help locate those stranded in Nepal earthquake". First Post. April 28, 2015. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  23. 1 2 3 Newman, Lily Hay (April 25, 2015). "After Nepal Earthquake, Facebook and Google Offer Safety Check-In Features". Slate Magazine. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  24. ↑ "Nepal earthquake: How tech from Facebook to Google can help survivors". Indian Express. April 27, 2015. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  25. 1 2 Dewey, Caitlin (April 27, 2015). "How Google and Facebook are finding victims of the Nepal earthquake". Washington Post. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  26. ↑ Schiavenza, Matt (April 25, 2015). "Updating Facebook to Say 'I'm Safe'. The social network activated its new "Safety Check" service after Saturday's tragic earthquake.". The Atlantic. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  27. ↑ Warren, Rosalyn (May 13, 2015). "People Living in Britain And America Keep Marking Themselves As "Safe" From Nepal's Earthquakes. "This is social media at its worst."". BuzzFeed. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  28. ↑ McCormack, Simon (May 13, 2015). "People Are Abusing A Facebook Tool Meant To Help People in Nepal". Huffington Post. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  29. ↑ Campbell, Scott (May 13, 2015). "Facebook Safety Check: Fury as users who aren't in Nepal mark themselves safe from quake". Express. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  30. ↑ Bogart, Nicole (May 13, 2015). "Facebook users outside of Nepal criticized for using 'Safety Check' feature". Global News. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
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