The Safety Check feature is handy in the case of an emergency.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – Facebook is constantly trying to improve user experience by implementing new and unique tools. A while back, it invented the Safety Check, and it performed smoothly up until the last few days. Safety Check was glitchy over the weekend, prompting the company to apologies for all of the inconveniences it created.
Initially, the Safety Check feature was developed with natural disasters in mind, but ever since the terrorist attacks in Paris, Facebook has been activating it on every occasion that can be a cause of concern.
So after the bombing in Lahore, Pakistan, the social network activated the safety measure so that people living in the area could let their friends and family know that they are OK and the bombing did not affect the.
But the Safety Check was glitchy over the weekend, so it started sending messages to users from the United States and Europe. Some people actually panicked because they ambiguous messages like
“Facebook Safety Check: Are you affected by the explosion? Reply SAFE if you’re ok or OUT if you aren’t in the area.”
There was no mentioning of the place where the explosion took place so people started panicking thinking that their area was targeted by terrorists.
Other users received more detailed messages and were asked if they were anywhere near Lahore’s Gulshan-i-Iqbal Park in Pakistan.
According to the official statement of a Facebook spokeswoman, the Safety Check was glitchy over the weekend and it sent messages to people that weren’t in the vicinity of the incident, causing even more panic.
Facebook apologized for the misunderstanding and assured the users that the problem was solved and that there will be no further such errors when the Safety Check will be needed in the future. They did not give any details about what caused the problem.
The safety feature was activated numerous time by the social network offering comfort to thousands of users. The first time that it was used in a terrorist attack was last year during the Paris tragedy.
Last week’s Brussels incidents prompted the activation of the seasonal feature. Most Facebook users are pleased with the idea because they are able to find out whether or not their friends and family were involved in the terrible incident.
Zuckerberg declared recently that he received critiques because the social media platform did not activate the Safety Check feature during the bombings in Beirut or any other places previous to Paris.
Safety Check was glitchy over the weekend, but Facebook is assuring users that all problems have now been fixed.
Image source: Pixabay