SOCIAL

Facebook Launches ‘Community Help’ Where Users Can Register to Help Neighbors or Request Assistance

Published

2 years ago

April 1, 2020

As part of its ever-expanding COVID-19 relief and assistance efforts, Facebook has this week launched a new platform called ‘Community Help’ where people can either offer assistance to others within their community, or request help with tasks from locals.

As explained by Facebook:

“Today we’re announcing Community Help, a place for people to request or offer help to neighbors, such as volunteering to deliver groceries or donating to a local food pantry or fundraiser.”

The platform, which you can access here, enables you to search through assistance/request posts which have been posted by anybody within a 50mi radius of your location – though you can also narrow down the range of your search (down to 5mi) to your immediate, local community.

Social media expert Matt Navarra posted this image of the platform late last week.

When you tap on either ‘Request Help’ or ‘Offer Help’, you activate a pop-up tab, which includes a range of options that you can add to your post, including up to 14 images and relevant tags to help sort your post for searchers.

You can also set a preferred contact method (Messenger or WhatsApp), and choose to post publicly or only to friends, as with regular Facebook posts.

And while the focus right now is on assisting those in need of help amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Facebook may opt to keep Community Help as a permanent option, giving local communities a means to better connect and help each other via the app.

The functionality is actually similar to how people are using Nextdoor, which has seen a surge in interest amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Facebook already offers some similar features, including listings of local services, and Marketplace, which hosts local sales. But Community Help is more specifically focused on facilitating assistance – which, while much like Nextdoor, makes sense for Facebook to be offering, given its broader reach and the benefits it could potentially provide in the current environment.

The option is first being launched in the US, the UK, France, Australia and Canada, which will happen over the next few days, with Facebook planning to expand the functionality to more regions “in the coming weeks”.

Socialmediatoday.com

SOCIAL

Twitter adds warning labels to false Ukraine war posts

Published

2 hours ago

May 19, 2022

Entireweb News Bot

Twitter adds warning labels to false Ukraine war posts

Misleading tweets about Russia’s war on Ukraine will be hidden behind messages warning they could cause real world harm under a new Twitter policy. – Copyright AFP Asif HASSAN

Twitter on Thursday said it will put warning labels on demonstrably false posts about Russia’s war in Ukraine under a new “crisis misinformation policy.”

Tweets violating the new rule will be hidden behind messages saying that misleading information in the posts could cause real-world harm, said Twitter head of safety and integrity Yoel Roth.

Twitter users will then have to click on a link to see an offending post.

“While this first iteration is focused on international armed conflict, starting with the war in Ukraine, we plan to update and expand the policy to include additional forms of crisis,” Roth said in a blog post.

Examples of the kinds of posts that would merit warning labels included false reports about what is happening on the ground and how the international community is responding.

Twitter said it will make a priority of adding warning labels to tweets from high-profile accounts such as state-affiliated media outlets, governments, and users whose identities have been verified.

“Conversation moves quickly during periods of crisis, and content from accounts with wide reach are most likely to rack up views and engagement,” Roth said.

He added that the new policy will guide Twitter’s efforts “to elevate credible, authoritative information, and will help to ensure viral misinformation isn’t amplified or recommended by us during crises.”

The content moderation move comes as Twitter faces the prospect of being bought by billionaire Elon Musk.

The controversial Tesla chief openly advocates for anyone to be able to say whatever they want on Twitter, no matter how untrue, as long as it doesn’t break the law.

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