Brooklyn shooting: How to mark yourself safe on Facebook during a disaster

Users can also use social media platform to make sure others aren’t in danger

People who live in a community impacted by a mass shooting, natural disaster or any other crisis can mark themselves as safe using Facebook.

During an incident, the social media giant will send users of its platform a notification asking if they are safe.

The feature allows users in the area to broadcast to their Facebook friends that they are safe, and for others to check on them.

Facebook introduced the feature in 2011 but until the 2015 Paris terror attacks it had only been used for natural disasters.

The company says it uses a string of different factors in deciding who gets the notification. According to Facebook, these may include the city the user has listed in their profile, or their current location if the user has given Facebook access to their phone or tablet’s location.

The company may also send the notification if a large number of users in the same area are talking about the incident.

If the user is not in the impacted area or they do not want to share that information they can click “Doesn’t Apply To Me.” If they want to verify that they are safe then the user can click “I’m Safe.”

Users who do not receive a prompt but are in the affected area can also mark themselves as safe by navigating to Facebook’s Crisis Response section. Once there, users can click “learn more” on a recent crisis, at which point they will be asked if they wish to state that they are “safe”.

People can also find out if a friend or loved one is safe during a crisis using Facebook.

To ask if someone else is safe during a disaster:

Go to Crisis Response and select a Crisis page.

On the Crisis page, click Safety Check.

Under Friends in the area, you will see a list of your friends who are Marked Safe and a list of your friends who are Not Marked Safe Yet. Use the search bar to search for a friend using their name. You can only ask people you are friends with on Facebook if they’re safe, by clicking “Ask If Safe” next to the person’s name.

You can find our live coverage of the Brooklyn shooting here.