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You're probably on Facebook, and you've probably got a bunch of friends. But in an emergency
have you planned ahead to know what you'd do? Who you would count on, and who could
count on you?
As hurricane season begins, there are two free new Facebook apps to help you identify
a few friends as your personal lifelines during an emergency--whether it's a car accident
or a natural disaster like a hurricane or an earthquake. And these apps can even help
you become better prepared in the first place.
One of these apps is called project: lifeline. The other is bReddi (b-r-e-d-d-i). These are
the first two personal preparedness apps we could find on Facebook, so we're really excited
about them. Facebook is all about connecting to each other -- and we saw a chance to harness
the power of community to prepare for emergencies and decided to sponsor a challenge to create
an app that would help people connect to and support one another when disaster strikes.
We had a great response from all over the country, and these two apps were the winners.
The apps are different, but chances are you'll like at least one of them a lot. Both have
you designate three people as your lifelines - three Facebook friends who agree that in
an emergency they will check on you, give you shelter, food, and other necessities.
In other words, they'll be your lifeline. And it will provide your social network with
an update about how you're doing.
You could also use the apps to create and share disaster readiness plans, get news about
what's going on, and track the status of your friends in a disaster-affected area. And this
means people can easily learn whether their loved ones are safe - helping not only people
affected by the disaster but those searching for missing people. Both apps also allow you
to print cards with a snapshot of your personal preparedness plan to carry in your wallet
to remind you what to do when every moment counts.
So check them out - pass them on to your friends, and regardless of which of them you choose,
get a life...line.