Facebook has activated its “Safety Check” feature for Nigeria after more than 30 people were killed and dozens left wounded in a suicide attack at a market in the north-eastern city of Yola on Tuesday evening.
The social networking as well as other social media had been harshly criticised for activating the ‘check-in’ feature after a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris, the capital of France, on 13 November but not for other terrorist attacks occurring around the world.
Facebook activates safety check in Nigeria after Yola blast
The safety check that allows Facebook users to inform their friends and family they are safe was earlier only used during natural disasters. But it seems the social networking giant has changed its selective use of the service as Facebook CEO and founder, Mark Zuckerberg announced the Yola Safety Check in a Facebook post today:
“We’ve activated Safety Check again after the bombing in Nigeria this evening. After the Paris attacks last week, we made the decision to use Safety Check for more tragic events like this going forward. We’re now working quickly to develop criteria for the new policy and determine when and how this service can be most useful.Unfortunately, these kinds of events are all too common, so I won’t post about all of them. A loss of human life anywhere is a tragedy, and we’re committed to doing our part to help people in more of these situations.In times like this, it’s important to remind ourselves that despite the alarming frequency of these terrible events, violence is actually at an all-time low in history and continues to decline. Deaths from war are lower than ever, murder rates are generally dropping around the world, and — although it’s hard to believe — even terrorist attacks are declining. Please don’t let a small minority of extremists make you pessimistic about our future. Every member of our community spreads empathy and understanding on a daily basis. We are all connecting the world together. And if we all do our part, then one day there may no longer be attacks like this.”
Nigerians react
After the news about a special saftety check tool spread around the Internet, Nigerians took to their Facebook pages to express their gratitude, with Adeleke Edun Mark among them.
He wrote: “Last week I expressed my displeasure about your company for what I perceived as a racial discrimination against African countries particularly Nigeria on the issue of showing solidarity to France and not doing same for African countries. However, your quick reaction this morning to the bombing in Nigeria yesterday has proved me wrong and based on this I retract my earlier statement about Facebook. Having said that, your submission this morning really makes sense, I agree with you that all these attacks are too common in some places and you cannot post about all of them. Your timely response concerning Nigeria today somehow confirms to me that you actually saw my protest message dropped on your wall and mail box and used same as a corrective measure, shows how sensitive you are as a leader and as human being. Thank you so much my brother.”
However, even after this Facebook’s move there were some unsatisfied social media users who also expected for the “flag filter” option, which allows to overlay a flag of the particular country on their profile picture as a way of expressing empathy and solidarity.
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