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Facebook introduces feature to report and help possible suicidal users

Facebook introduced Wednesday a new update to provide advice, resources and support to users identified as possibly struggling with anxiety, depression or suicidal thoughts.

Facebook announced a new tool Wednesday that allows users to flag posts by friends that indicate the potential for self-harm. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY BETSEY GOLDWASSER/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF
Facebook announced a new tool Wednesday that allows users to flag posts by friends that indicate the potential for self-harm. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY BETSEY GOLDWASSER/DAILY FREE PRESS STAFF

This new safety feature, which was announced at Facebook’s fifth annual Compassion Research Day and detailed in a Wednesday press release, allows users to report troubling posts by a friend or loved one. Facebook then employs individuals around-the-clock to screen the reported posts and send resources to the indicated user, the release stated.

In developing the update, Facebook collaborated with Suicide Awareness Voices of Education, Forefront: Innovations in Suicide Prevention, Now Matters Now, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and other mental health advocacy groups, the release stated.

“The idea behind this is for people that are really struggling with suicidal thoughts and giving them options and alternatives to know what to do with,” said Dan Reidenberg, executive director at SAVE. “The social media platform provides the opportunity, the way that it works through technology. But it’s really for the users. The users get to have interaction with the site and different tips that they could do to get through a stressful time. It links them up with friends.”

The update is set to be released as an update for Facebook users over the next few months, the release stated.

“In the world of suicide prevention, we know that being connected is a protective factor,” Jenn Stuber, a faculty director at Forefront, said in a Wednesday release from Forefront. “People are on Facebook 24/7, so there’s an opportunity to actually connect someone who is struggling with a person they have a relationship with. Facebook is extremely proactive in what they’re trying to do.”

SAVE specializes in developing public service announcements for a broad audience of friends, family and coworkers of those with mental illness or struggling with suicidal thoughts, according to SAVE’s website.

“This is brand new,” Reidenberg said. “Facebook is definitely in the lead among the technology companies trying to advance what we know from science and the practice and put it in use in new ways as technology continues to develop.”

In addition to support to the distressed individual, Facebook is supplementing tools for the user who flagged the post to aid the suffering individual, the release from Facebook stated.

Several residents said it is nice to see social media finding ways to address mental health, but the tool may not be entirely helpful.

Brittney Barta, 21, of Allston, said knowledge of mental health is important to properly use the feature.

“It’s a good idea, but there needs to be a discussion on mental illness and mental health before they can implement something like that,” she said. “It could be misused when people who aren’t ready to seek help are forced into it. Say someone flags a post and their parents see it. Their parents could overreact to a situation. It could be misused if someone who flags a post doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”

Rhyan Goldman, 23, of Allston, said the tool could be used in a negative way and potentially harm the user.

“I think if there’s someone human, or a very sophisticated neutral network on Facebook’s end, it could be fine,” she said. “Otherwise, it could become a way to cyberbully, like if people start tagging every post a person makes with it.”

Emilee Ye, 19, of Allston, said the feature would assist people to see signs of suicidal thoughts in their friends more quickly than they would normally.

“This is a good idea because people can see what’s going on with their friends. Maybe later on, even for the police, so they can see some evidence,” she said. “There isn’t a hard standard for us to identify, ‘Is it [the behavior] wrong?’ or ‘Is the intention suicide?’ There isn’t a clear standard for us to really identify what is going on with our friends.”

Amanda Burke contributed to the reporting of this article.

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