Facebook Safety Check for London fire stirs up more backlash for the feature
Facebook's Safety Check feature was triggered Wednesday after a massive fire broke out at a London apartment block in the middle of the night.
At least a dozen were killed in the early morning blaze, more than 65 injured, and many of the hundreds who would have been asleep in the Grenfell Tower building are still unaccounted for.
But amidst all the chaos and online searches for info about loved ones and friends, people far from the fire were prompted to mark themselves as safe from the "fire in London."
To many this seemed unnecessary and unhelpful.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This is just the latest example of the safety check-in feature not doing what it intends to do: assure your network and community you are safe from a natural disaster or emergency.
Instead it makes it seem that people who haven't marked themselves as "safe" on the social network might be affected or involved in the fire. Chances are in a sprawling city like London they were nowhere near the blaze.
This keeps happening, with the algorithm-based safety feature kicking in for too many people and making the check-in almost pointless.
Just a few weeks ago, the terrorist attack at London Bridge prompted the feature to ask residents of the huge metropolis to mark themselves safe on Facebook. But again, this made the attack seem bigger and more widespread than it was -- even if the tool was helpful for some who would have been in the area.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
A Facebook spokesperson said of the feature and future improvements, "We’re working to improve Safety Check so we're better at prompting people in the affected area to mark themselves safe."
Just today, changes to Safety Check were added, making it more personalized. Now you can add a message to your check-in, information about fundraisers and links to community resources.
But for those who live in the tower or visit frequently, the feature was a reassuring measure Wednesday morning that quickly verified who was OK enough to go online and mark themselves as safe. The check-in served its purpose to clearly indicate if people in that immediate vicinity were in a safe place away from harm.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
But when the alert goes out miles away for something fairly isolated, like a building fire, it can spread panic and fear.
These recent incidents go to show that the check-in is a double-edged sword that still needs a lot more fine-tuning.
Topics Facebook Social Good Social Media
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
