Facebook now has a suicide help system

Ever since “Facebook suicides” have started becoming a “trend”, the social networking service has decided to step in to help. In case you haven’t heard, people have been using Facebook to post their suicide notes and final messages before taking their lives. Usually during the days leading up to the suicide, those people usually post depressing status updates or links on their page to garner some attention before committing suicide. Now, if you know someone who is showing these sorts of signs, Facebook is making it easier to report such behavior, and for you to possibly save a life. All you have to do is head to the help center, and enter “suicide” in the search box. The first link that pops up bringing you to a page of numbers you can dial for help, or you can click “Report suicidal content” where you can anonymously report a case to Facebook and one of the Samaritan hotlines. Once you’ve made a case, Facebook and the hotline will attempt to reach out to the suicidal person in hopes of changing their minds. A good idea that could potentially save some lives, but isn’t meeting up with said person to convince him/her that suicide isn’t the best way to go about things more effective? Either way, it’s better than not having the option to, though I smell a whole lot of prank suicide calls happening in the near future. Head over to BBC to check out a video report.

George Wong
Categories: Web
Tags: Facebook, help, suicide, system