During the attacks in Paris on Friday night, Facebook launched a Safety Check tool that allowed users to notify friends and family they were safe.
The push notification was sent to assure friends that those in the vicinity of the attacks were safe from harm, and acted as a communication link when phone services were inundated with users trying to send texts of reassurance.
Facebook users could also search for specific friends and if you were aware of someone’s safety and wanted to notify their friends, you could click on their profile to ‘Mark Safe’.
While the social network was praised for its rapid introduction of the key tool, there were questions over the social network’s decision to release the emergency notification following the Paris attacks but not a deadly bombing in Beirut.
Addressing the questions posed by some users about the timing of the launch of Safety Check, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained his actions in a post on site:
Zuckerberg acknowledged that people were right to question the decisions, adding that the team behind the site want to assist people in distressed areas as much as they can:
“We care about all people equally, and we will work hard to help people suffering in as many of these situations as we can.”
The post was a comment included on his change of profile picture to one which included the colours of the French flag overlaid on the image.
