Facebook got flak for its first use of Safety Check during the terrorist attacks in Paris. In the unfortunate course of events that happened then, Facebook users were notified that their friends and loved ones who were within the area were actually safe.
The attacks on Paris was the first time Facebook had activated the Safety Check feature outside of a natural disaster, and that's when and where the problem began for the company. Caught in the crossfire of trying to do something good but doing it under a perceived Western bias, Facebook has now activated Safety Check again after the bombing of a market in Nigeria.
It's only been five days since Safety Check was first turned on for the Paris attacks. Facebook has learned to move fast especially since drawing criticism that it had ignored other terrorist attacks that had happened before those in Paris.
In a post on his profile page on Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg stated that his company is once again activating Safety Check after the bombing in Nigeria.
"After the Paris attacks last week, we made the decision to use Safety Check for more tragic events like this going forward. We're now working quickly to develop criteria for the new policy and determine when and how this service can be most useful," he added in his post.
Originally, however, Safety Check was developed to be of use for natural disasters following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In a previous Facebook post following the criticisms the company received over the timing of Safety Check's first use, Alex Schultz, VP of Growth, revealed that Safety Check was used for the very first time in October of last year. Since then, the feature has been used after earthquakes in Afghanistan, Chile, Nepal and typhoons in the South Pacific and the Philippines. The Paris attacks were a delicate scenario.
"There has to be a first time for trying something new, even in complex and sensitive times, and for us that was Paris," Schultz said, adding, "We want this tool to be available whenever and wherever it can help. We will learn a lot from feedback on this launch, and we'll also continue to explore how we can help people show support for the things they care about through their Facebook profiles, which we did in the case for Paris, too."
So far, it seems Facebook is making good on that promise by including the recent event in Nigeria in Safety Check. As of this writing, however, we've yet to see an option to layer our Facebook profile photos with the colors of the Nigerian flag.