Facebook activated their Safety Check feature for Nigerians in Yola after the garage/market bombing on Tuesday, which left 32 dead and 80 injured.
The feature allows Facebook users to check if their network of friends are safe after a disaster or terrorist attack.
Last week when Facebook activated the feature in response to the Paris attacks, they came under some criticism. A lot of people said it should have come earlier, as Beirut had been scourged by two suicide bombings, a day earlier, leaving 40 dead.
Some said it was western imperialism at play again, since Middle Eastern and African nations have endured frequent terrorist attacks for years.
Regardless of where you stand though, Facebook has kept its promise. Last week, in a comment on Facebook (and as response to the criticism) Mark Zuckerberg said, “Many people have rightfully asked why we turned on Safety Check for Paris but not for bombings in Beirut and other places. Until yesterday, our policy was only to activate Safety Check for natural disasters. We just changed this and now plan to activate Safety Check for more human disasters going forward as well.”
Nigeria is the second place where Safety Check has been activated.
“We’ve activated Safety Check again 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,” Mark posted on his Facebook page.
Personally, I’m just happy a service connecting so many people worldwide exists, which makes the Safety Check feature a possibility in the first place.
Photo Credit: clasesdeperiodismo via Compfight cc
