Facebook expands Safety Check with fundraising and more

Facebook's Safety Check feature has become one of the easiest ways of checking up on loved ones when disaster strikes. It also gives people in the affected area the opportunity to let friends and family know that they're OK, and today Facebook is adding a number of new options, including fundraising.

Starting off in the US, people will now be able to start a fundraiser from within Safety Check to help raise money for those in need. These can be for personal or charitable causes, and the feature makes it easy for others to make donations. There are also other changes that make Safety Check more useful.

The most immediately obvious change is that crises mentioned in Safety Check can now feature descriptions so users have access to more information about what is going on. Facebook says that data is provided by its trusted third party global crisis reporting agency NC4.

On top of this, changes have also been introduced for individuals. When marking themselves safe via Safety Check, people are now able to add notes. The idea is that this gives the opportunity to provide additional context about their situation to help put others' minds at rest.

Finally, Facebook says that it is expanding Community Help:

Since we launched Community Help earlier this year on iOS and Android, we have been inspired by the offers and requests for help generated by the community and want to make sure that those in need are able to access Community Help through any platform. Community Help will be available in the upcoming weeks on desktop, giving people another way to access the tool. Additionally, Community Help is now available for all crises where Safety Check is activated.

The fundraiser feature is rolling out across the US in the coming weeks, while the other changes should take immediate effect.