Sometimes when you are refreshing you feed online, you get to see really despondent posts from your friends or people that you follow. Facebook has realized that these people need help and that is why they are rolling out a tool to help people to flag posts that they think could be related to a potential suicide.
According to a report by the New York Times, this tool will allow people to flag posts that they think could raise concern about self harm anonymously. These reports will be viewed by Facebook’s global community operations team who will be monitoring these posts 24/7.
Apparently posts that are flagged as “potential self harm” will be reviewed those that are reported as “objectionable”. If the team believes that the specified flagged post is a cal for help, they will present the person with the list of options as shown in the above screenshot which includes options like “talk to a friend”, “contact a helpline” or “get tips and support.”
“People really want to help, but often they just don’t know what to say, what to do or how to help their friends,” a Facebook product manager was quoted by the publication. “Given that Facebook is the pace you’re connected to friends and family, it seemed like a natural fit,” the lead researcher to the project told New York Times.
This is a commendable move by Facebook since according to a research done internally, posts like devastated or heartbroken “reveal a large bump in private messages in addition to comments” which means friends may be supporting them when needed.
