There have been numerous disasters around the world as of late. Because everybody is now connected online and through social media, there has been an increased demand for individuals to check people are safe following such a disaster. They may have called their loved one but not had an answer due to networks being down, for instance. A lot of online businesses have responded to this demand to be able to find people, one of which is Facebook, who have set up the Crisis Response.
What Is Crisis Response?
When Crisis Response first happened, a lot of people thought it was a scam. They feared that it was an attempt to get information about others, such as credit card and bank details, by exploiting a big disaster. However, the reason for this was that a disaster happened before Facebook could write a report on their intentions, meaning it was suddenly there.
Today, nobody has a complaint about the system existing anymore. There have been some negative reviews, particularly because some people are of the opinion that it is not accurate, but the fact that it is there is widely accepted as being a good thing.
Essentially, Facebook has used the “Safety Check”, which enables individuals to go to their profile and tell their amily and friends that they are safe. Not just that, however, and this why the system has such a good rating, it is also possible to offer support in times of crisis. A business may be offering free water, for instance, which they can list through the network.
Safety Check and Crisis Response are not businesses on their own. They do not have a BBB rating and they cannot help with awarding monetary damages. In fact, it is not even clear whether it is possible to leave a customer review about the system at all. But what matters is that it is there, and that people can tell others they are safe.
How Does it Work?
The Safety Check tool can be used by people who are in the vicinity of an area that is affected by a disaster. They can activate their Safety Check and, if enough people do so, Facebook will automatically allow for a safety check in. When activating it, people can also ask their friends to mark whether they are safe or not, thereby instantly growing the network.
When Safety Check was first released, it was widely praised by experts. They believed, and continue to do so, that it is a fantastic way to relieve some of the pressure that is placed on other infrastructure, such as telephone and mobile networks. Because so many people are trying to phone in or out of affected areas, there is often an overload and this, in turn, makes it more difficult for people to reach emergency services. The only real complaint that people have, is that they believe it is a clever way to track people’s locations, in an Orwellian Big Brother style.
Raymond Bilger 
Daryl Green