Gadgetory

people have been using Facebook to make a difference for as long as these tools have existed usually they do this without talking to us but it's a good reminder that a lot of the best things that happen aren't because some Engineer in California started building something but they start with someone somewhere who has an idea and is passionate about it and does what they need to do to make it real so take one raising four causes for example you know we're not when I started Facebook I wasn't thinking about it as a way to raise money to fight disease but you know a few years then we started noticing that people were using it to raise money for a lot of different causes including raising money to for healthcare costs for a friend and for people halfway around the world we start talking to experts in the area and we started building some AI tools that can flag for our team and then flag for first responders when people are posting on Facebook or expressing thoughts about suicide or self-harm so we can help get them the help that they need quicker and in the first month alone or in the last month Sariah since we launched this in the US these tools have helped first responders reach out and help more than a hundred people who needed that support quickly you know Facebook has has mostly focused on helping connect us with people we already know but I think it may be just as important to help connect people with with people outside of their social circle to provide a new source of support and inspiration so that's why we're starting today to test Facebook mentorship and support so it's a new tool that combines the expertise of nonprofits with the community of Facebook to help connect people who who have the shared experiences and share goals but who don't know each other yet and there's no doubt that that we live in a challenging time right now but one of the things that strikes me so much is the deep sense of optimism that you all have or this belief that even in the face of real challenges or disease poverty hunger that every one of us can make a difference