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Social Media assisted public safety following Paris attacks
People rest on a bench after being evacuated from the Bataclan theater after a shooting in Paris, on Nov
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People rest on a bench after being evacuated from the Bataclan theater after a shooting in Paris, on Nov. 14, 2015. A series of attacks targeting young concert-goers, soccer fans and Parisians enjoying a Friday night out at popular nightspots killed over 100 people in the deadliest violence to strike France since World War II. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
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span class="inline inline-center">People rest on a bench after being evacuated from the Bataclan theater after a shooting in Paris, on Nov. 14, 2015. A series of attacks targeting young concert-goers, soccer fans and Parisians enjoying a Friday night out at popular nightspots killed over 100 people in the deadliest violence to strike France since World War II. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Social media websites quickly updated their services to help people following the deadly attacks in Paris on Friday evening.
Facebook activated its Safety Check to help people living in Paris notify that they were safe by clicking the "I'm safe" button. The feature also assisted friends and relatives seeking information.
Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg expressed his condolences to the people of Paris.
"We have activated Safety Check, so if you're in Paris you can mark yourself safe or check on your friends and family," he said on his Facebook page on Friday night with a link to the feature.
Zuckerberg announced the feature in April following the earthquake in Nepal to help people who lived in disaster-prone areas.
Google has also announced their support by allowing users to call from anywhere to France free of charge using the Google Hangouts dialer, which allows Voice Internet Protocols (VoiP) to integrate with Google Voice.
Launched in September 2014, the dialer enables users to make calls to telephone numbers over data connections.
Users can call numbers with the French telephone code +33 for free in connection with the Paris attack.
Twitter users also launched #PorteOuverte hashtag to help people seeking shelter from the attacks.
Paris was in lockdown on Friday night after a string of attacks, believed to be the worst such incident since World War II, left at least 120 people dead in the heart of the city. (rin)
