NEW YORK (AP) — It’s one of the scariest things when you hear about a natural disaster or other similar events: trying to find out whether friends or loved ones are OK.
The world’s largest online community is taking steps to help ease concerns in such times. Facebook is launching a tool called “Safety Check” — and it lets people update family members and friends about their status after bad situations.
The “Safety Check” will be available worldwide to Facebook’s 1.32 billion users, both on computers and mobile devices.
Under the system, Facebook will determine a user’s location and if the area is affected by a disaster, Safety Check will ask the user if they are safe.
If the response is “yes,” their Facebook friends will be notified. There’s no provision to say “no.”
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.