You might have heard or read about it, but in case you haven’t, back in January a 14-year old girl from Miami committed suicide. While suicide isn’t exactly rare, what made this suicide even more unfortunate was the fact that she had broadcasted it live, and that no one seemed to be able to get her in time.This is why Facebook has recently announced that they will be rolling out new tools aimed at identifying and helping users who might be feeling suicidal, although the company claims that these tools were already in the works before the video. This will be done by using a pattern-recognition algorithm that will try to recognize if a user’s post might indicate that they are struggling. This system will be further enhanced by previous posts that have been flagged, and it will also be on the lookout for comments by other users that might ask, “Are you OK?” or “I’m worried about you”.
Speaking to the BBC, the director of the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Dr. John Draper suggested that Facebook could go further by actually contacting those that can help. “It’s something that we have been discussing with Facebook. The more we can mobilise the support network of an individual in distress to help them, the more likely they are to get help. The question is how we can do that in a way that doesn’t feel invasive. I would say though that what they are now offering is a huge step forward.”
As for those who might be showing tendencies of suicide on live streams, viewers can flag those videos to declare that they are concerned, and Facebook will pop up some advice to the user in question about how they can seek help.
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