Facebook introduces ‘Safety Check’ feature to let friends know you are safe during natural disasters

Facebook today announced a new feature called ‘Safety Check,’ which will allow users to let family and friends know they’re safe during a natural disaster. The company explained that the feature is “a simple and easy way to say you’re safe and check on others when an unprecedented disaster strikes in your area. The feature will only be activated when a disaster strikes, and only friends will be able to see the safety check updates. The feature will soon be rolled out globally on Android and iOS platforms.

During a natural disaster, if you happen to be in the affected area, Facebook will send you a notification asking if you’re safe. The site will determine your location by looking at the city you have listed in your profile, your last location through ‘Nearby Friends’ or the city where you are using the Internet. Once you let Facebook know that you are safe, it will automatically generate an update in your News Feed story to let your friends know that you are safe. If you don’t happen to have a smartphone on you, your friends can also mark you as safe.

Facebook said work on the feature began in 2011 when Japan saw a massive earthquake, which affected an estimated 12.5 million people.  “During that crisis we saw how people used technology and social media to stay connected with those they cared about. Our engineers in Japan took the first step toward creating a product to improve the experience of reconnecting after a disaster. They built the Disaster Message Board to make it easier to communicate with others. They launched a test of the tool a year later and the response was overwhelming.”

You can watch how Facebook’s Safety Check feature works below:

Introducing Safety Check from Facebook on Vimeo.