Facebook has unveiled some improvements for its social media platform. These improvements should help users combat misinformation regarding the coronavirus pandemic. These handy new features should allow its users to access reliable information as quickly as possible.
Using The Community Help Feature (Facebook)
They’re making use of their Community Help platform to do this. Facebook first introduced this feature back in 2017. It’s essentially an expansion of their previously used Safety Check feature. The way Safety Check worked was that it gave users who were geographically close to the site of a tragedy to mark themselves safe.
This allowed all of their Facebook friends and family members know very quickly that they were ok. When Community Help came up, it made this set of safety tool even more robust. Now, users could not only mark themselves safe, but they could also gain information about nearby shelters if need be.
However, the category of events for which they activated Community Help was limited. Facebook usually deployed this feature in the midst of natural calamities, such as hurricanes, or instances of mass shootings.
Providing Information And Resources Quickly (Facebook)
The coronavirus pandemic is the first case where they have activated this feature to combat a health crisis. Since the crisis is not as short-lived as a natural or man-made disaster, users can’t exactly mark themselves safe. They can, however, get instant access to reliable information with just one tap or click.
Their COVID-19 Information Center is visible right at the top of everyone’s news feeds. Beyond just getting accurate information, users can also post requests for help. These could be calls for food, medicine or other such important resources.
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Donations To Charities
They have a webpage that details all the information regarding their efforts to combat this pandemic. It reads as follows: “Facebook is supporting the global public health community’s work to keep people safe and informed during the coronavirus public health crisis. We’re also working to address the long-term impacts by supporting industries in need and making it easier for people to find and offer help in their communities.”
In addition to all this, Facebook is also partnering up with various organisations to raise money for charity. On an international scale, they’re going to match donations up to $10 million for the UNF/WHO. Within the US, they’re going to match donations up to the same amount for the CDC.
