Facebook has launched a new sharing feature that users might actually use: a "Safety Check" tool that lets you tell your friends and family that you're OK after a natural disaster.
Rolling out worldwide, the tool will be available on Web and mobile versions of Facebook, including versions that are on basic "feature" phones with limited capability, the Associated Press reported.
Safety Check contacts users who live in areas affected by natural disasters if they have activated the tool. It can determine their location based on the city named on their profile, the last location they shared with other Facebook users and even through their Internet connection.
Users only have the option of saying yes when they get a Safety Check; friends can also mark them as safe, but the users who are in the affected area have to approve the check. Selecting "I'm safe" will automatically generate a notification and a News Feed story with the update.
Facebook engineers developed Safety Check based on a message board that was used to connect people affected by the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the company said in a blog post.
"Unfortunately, these kinds of disasters happen all too frequently. Each time, we see people, relief organizations and first responders turn to Facebook in the aftermath of a major natural disaster," Facebook officials wrote in the post. "These events have taught us a lot about how people use Facebook during disasters and we were personally inspired to continue work on the Disaster Message Board to incorporate what we've learned."
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