Facebook is giving disaster-relief organizations such as the Red Cross access to data on what users need and where they are as part of an expansion of tools available for relief and charitable giving.
While Facebook users can already see individual pleas and offers for help during a crisis, relief groups will get a broader set of data similar to what Facebook sees.
That includes real-time maps showing where people need help.
Mark Zuckerberg announced the new features Wednesday during its Social Good Forum in New York, a gathering for nonprofits and others using the site.
Called the Community Help API, Facebook is piloting the scheme with NetHope and the American Red Cross.
‘Our hope is that this data will help organizations coordinate information and response resources as fast as possible,’ Facebook said.
‘We plan to announce more partnerships soon.
Earlier this year the firm announced a crisis response tool where people can ask for and give the help they need to recover following a crisis.
The company announced the new features Wednesday during its Social Good Forum in New York, a gathering for nonprofits and others using the site.
Facebook is also expanding its fundraising tools beyond the U.S. and eliminating the fees it had been charging for people using its service to raise money for various causes.
In this Monday, June 19, 2017, file photo, a user gets ready to launch Facebook on an iPhone, in North Andover, Mass. Facebook announced Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2017, that the company is giving disaster-relief organizations such as the Red Cross access to data on what users need and where they are as part of an expansion of tools available for relief and charitable giving.
It also unveiled a new mentoring platform and announced Facebook Donations Fund, $50 million annual fund for 2018 to help communities recover from disaster by direct contributions and matching dollars.
It also revealed more than 4 million donors in India have signed up to its blood donations feature,, expanding to connect blood banks and hospitals to donors through blood donation events, and revealed plans to introducing the feature in Bangladesh in early 2018.