Facebook introduces Safety Check

On Oct. 16, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared the social network’s latest tool on his Facebook page: Safety Check. “Safety Check is our way of helping our community during natural disasters and gives you an easy and simple way to say you’re safe and check on all friends and family in one place,” he wrote. Safety Check acts as a simple and easy way to say you’re out of harm’s way and to check in on your friends that may be in the vicinity of a major disaster. You also could mark your friends as “safe” once you know they are OK. Zuckerberg fittingly announced the launch of the tool while in Japan, where an earthquake and resulting tsunami in March 2011 created a disaster in which social media might have helped victims track the whereabouts of their loved ones. “It’s meaningful to be in Tokyo to announce this,” Zuckerberg wrote, “because the great earthquake and tsunami a few years ago inspired us to build the first version of this for Japan. Now we’re glad to have this ready to serve everyone in the world.” Here’s how it works: If a natural disaster occurs, the Safety Check tool is activated, and if you are in the affected area, you’ll receive a Facebook notification asking if you’re safe. Facebook determines your location by looking at the location in your profile, the city where you last used the Internet and your last location if you have previously opted in to the Nearby Friends product. If you have friends that live in the area affected by a natural disaster, you will receive notifications stating that those friends have marked themselves as safe. You can learn more about Facebook’s latest feature in the video below: