With new updates to Safety Check, Facebook is making it easier for people to ask for help or get important information on the social network following a crisis.
For starters, you can now start a fundraiser from within Safety Check, which should help people more easily solicit charitable donations, or offer financial assistance to those in need. "Fundraising provides a way for people who are also outside of the crisis area to offer help," Facebook's VP of Social Good, Naomi Gleit, wrote in a blog post.
This personal fundraisers feature, which is basically a replica of GoFundMe, first debuted in March. Now, Facebook is making it more accessible by letting people create a fundraiser, or donate to one, right from Safety Check. Look for it to roll out "in the coming weeks" in the US, Gleit wrote.
Meanwhile, people who mark themselves safe via Safety Check can now share a personal note to give friends and family more information about the crisis. Facebook is also adding descriptions of the event from the global crisis reporting agency NC4 to Safety Check posts.
"When people receive Safety Check notifications, they may have limited information about the crisis," Gleit wrote. With the new personal notes and NC4 descriptions, people will have a better idea of what happened without having to Google the crisis.
Finally, Facebook is expanding the Community Help feature it launched in February to the desktop. The feature, which lets people ask for or offer things like shelter, food, and supplies in the event of a natural disaster or crisis, was previously only available on iOS and Android.
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"We have been inspired by the offers and requests for help generated by the community and want to make sure that those in need are able to access Community Help through any platform," Gleit wrote.
Safety Check emerged in the wake of the Japan earthquake and tsunami in 2011, but formally launched in 2014 for use during natural disasters—emergencies like hurricanes and tornados.
The social network was criticized after it activated the feature for the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, but not for similar bombings in the Middle East. In response, Mark Zuckerberg announced the function would be rolled out for all major disasters. It was used for the first time in the US after last year's shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Flordia.
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