Facebook has a brilliant feature that can help anyone who may be in danger from the Nepal earthquake
Facebook wants to use its massive network to help those who may be in danger from the Nepal earthquake with a feature called Safety Check.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Saturday that the company activated Safety Check for those affected by the earthquake.
"When disasters happen, people need to know their loved ones are safe," he wrote in a Facebook post. "It's moments like this that being able to connect really matters."
The feature, which was announced in October, is simple and does exactly what its name implies. If you're near a natural disaster, you'll receive a Facebook notification asking if you're safe. Facebook determines your location by looking at the city listed in your profile, or by seeing where you checked in if you use the Nearby Friends feature.
If you're safe, you can select the "I'm Safe" option, and Facebook will create a Newsfeed story to show your friends and family that you're unharmed. Your friends can also mark you as safe.
Safety Check also sends you a notification if people you know are in the affected area and have been marked as safe.
Here's what Facebook's Safety Check page for the Nepal earthquake looks like. Facebook went through my friends list to tell me that no one I know is in the affected area.
It looks like at least a few people are using the feature to check on their loved ones.
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake has killed more than 2,200 people in the region, according to the AP. It's being called the worst earthquake to hit the nation in over 80 years.