Facebook’s new suicide response feature relies on friends to recognize self-destructive posts and comments and to sound the alarm.
By clicking on a “report” button next to a concerning post, the friend is prompted to answer a series of questions about the post. If “harmful behavior” is identified, Facebook’s user safety team reviews it, and forwards it to Lifeline, a medical alert service, according to NPR. Then Facebook sends the person in distress an email with Lifeline’s contact information and a link to begin a confidential chat session.
NPR reports, "The Lifeline currently responds to dozens of users on Facebook each day. Crisis center workers will be available 24 hours a day to respond to users selecting the chat option."
The article also cites three cases in recent years where Facebook users have posted their final words on social networking sites, including the widely publicized case of Tyler Clementi, who jumped off the George Washington bridge in September 2010. Read more...
Today a Los Angeles judge plans to overturn the jury conviction of Missouri woman, Lori Drew, whose role in a faux online relationship led to the suicide of her daughter's "frenemy." A frenemy is defined by the Urban Dictionary as "Someone who is both friend and enemy, a relationship that is both mutually beneficial or dependent while being competitive, fraught with risk and mistrust." Drew, 50, w Read more...
