Facebook’s Safety Check feature is one of the most well-known examples. Here’s how to use it to mark yourself as safe on Facebook during a crisis.
How to Mark Yourself as Safe on Facebook
The process is the same whether using a mobile or desktop device.
Go to Facebook’s Crisis Response page. You’ll then see a list of active crises, including ones potentially affecting people you know. Click on the Learn More button for the relevant crisis. You may see a message at the top of the next page asking about your safety. Select I’m Safe to share a post notifying friends that you’re safe.
Facebook uses your location data to show the crises most likely to affect you. However, in some cases, such as when traveling, it may be necessary to mark yourself as safe regarding an event outside where you usually reside.
If this is the case, you’ll see a message asking if you’re in the affected area after clicking the Learn More button for a particular event. Answering Yes makes the Safety Check banner appear.
When people in your location post about a crisis or news agencies report catastrophic events, you may also see a notification on Facebook’s homepage asking you to verify your safety.
The Learn More page also has Home and Safety Check tabs across the top. The Home tab provides general information about the disaster, as well as safety tips and opportunities to donate, launch a fundraiser, or offer help.
Facebook is not the only tech brand to become involved in disaster-related tech. For example, Google developed a system that sends earthquake alerts to people in California who have Android phones.
Read more: Common Facebook Problems and Errors (And How to Fix Them)
How to Check a Friend’s Safety
You can also go to the Safety Check tab to touch base with an affected friend if you don’t see them showing up as safe through this feature.
Select the More arrow and choose Not marked as safe yet. Alternatively, use the Search for friends box under the Friends in the area heading. Provided you have Facebook friends in the affected area, you’ll see an Ask If Safe button next to their name.
Suppose you don’t hear back from a friend after using the Safety Check feature to inquire about them? In that case, you should try other avenues of contacting them.
Good Intentions Can Backfire
Many things seem like good ideas at the time but eventually show some downsides. Such is the case with Facebook’s Safety Check.
For example, the social media site sometimes sets its location parameters too broadly for a disaster. That previously caused people to get requests to mark themselves safe despite being in a different state than where an event occurred. It’s also not necessarily helpful if a huge area experiences a relatively confined event.
It could also cause unnecessary worry among Facebook users. This is especially true if the person near the crisis doesn’t use Facebook often and doesn’t respond to requests to mark themselves as safe.
Facebook Safety Check: Is It Worth Using?
The next time you see a safety check notification pop up on Facebook, think carefully about responding to it.
Do you have lots of friends who only communicate with you through the platform? If so, it may prove useful.
