Facebook makes it easier to help your neighbors during a crisis

Facebook is rolling out an update to its Safety Check platform that leverages the huge numbers of people and data in its database to make it easier to actual give people help.

Called Community Help, the feature is "available for natural and accidental incidents, such as an earthquake or building fire," and is "starting in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and Saudi Arabia for the first couple of weeks."

The idea is that after checking in to let your followers know you're OK during a difficult time or state of emergency, you can now "find and give help, and message others directly to connect after a crisis."

The goal is a noble one, built out of necessity given Facebook's reach and daily activity numbers. The company says it will expand into more countries and categories in the coming weeks.

Daniel Bader

Daniel Bader was a former Android Central Editor-in-Chief and Executive Editor for iMore and Windows Central.