When the Tsunami hit Japan in 2011 telephone circuits were instantly flooded with calls from desperate people trying to reach loved ones to check on their safety. A group of Japanese engineers at Facebook thought about the problem and developed a lightweight online service called Safety Check, announced last week by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. When a natural disaster hits Facebook will activate the service for all Facebook members in the area. A push notification will be sent to each one, asking “are you okay?” If you respond you’re safe, that news will be posted to every one of your Facebook friends. If not, you can ask for help and that message will be routed to authorities.
It’s one more example of how a social network can offer additional–and in some cases extraordinary services–to individuals, to groups even to entire nations.