One month after a Miami-Dade teen took her own life in front of a Facebook Live audience, the social media conglomerate is introducing new tools added to their platform in hopes of detecting cries for help as early as possible.
Facebook announced Wednesday that they are updating tools and resources offered to those with suicidal thoughts and actions, as well as support to concerned friends and family members.
These suicide prevention tools will be integrated into Facebook Live and Messenger. The social giant is implementing:
- Integrated suicide prevention tools to help people in real time on Facebook Live
- Live chat support from crisis support organizations through Messenger
- Streamlined reporting for suicide, assisted by artificial intelligence
In a statement released Wednesday, Facebook says:
We have teams working around the world, 24/7, who review reports that come in and prioritize the most serious reports like suicide. We provide people who have expressed suicidal thoughts with a number of support options. For example, we prompt people to reach out to a friend and even offer pre-populated text to make it easier for people to start a conversation. We also suggest contacting a help line and offer other tips and resources for people to help themselves in that moment.
Facebook has been working in tandem with mental health organizations like Save.org for the past decade in order to offer suicide prevention tools to its users. As of 2016, Facebook has more than 70 partners.
Suicide prevention is one way that Facebook is working to build a safer community via social media, according to reports. The social outlets believes that, with the help of their official partners and people’s friends and family members on Facebook, that support will be available to more people.