Social distribution of emergency status

Abstract

A social networking system distributes information related to emergency events. The social networking system provides an interface for users to view information about the users' connections related to the emergency event. The interface allows users to filter the users' connections to search for connections affected by the emergency event. The interface also includes a status indicator for the users and provides a method for providing input to the connections' status.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 establishing an emergency event node for an emergency in a social networking system;   accessing records for a plurality of users of the social networking system;   determining a set of at-risk users from the plurality of users as being associated with the emergency event node;   requesting a status update relative to the emergency event node from one or more users connected to one or more at-risk users in the set of at-risk users;   receiving one or more status updates about the one or more at-risk users; and   communicating the status updates about the one or more at-risk users to one or more other users who have established a connection with the one or more at-risk users, the communicating excluding communication of the status updates to one or more users who do not have access privileges to information associating the one or more at-risk users with the emergency event node.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the emergency event node includes a geographic area, and wherein determining the set of at-risk users comprises comparing the geographic area of the emergency event node with location information associated with the at-risk users. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 2 , wherein the location information for at least one at risk user comprises one or more of: a check-in of the at-risk use, user profile information, an intent to attend an event at a location, and a location identified from a user device. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 3 , wherein the location identified from a user device is based on IP address of the last user login. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein determining a set of at-risk users from the plurality of users as being associated with the emergency event node comprises, for at least one of the plurality of users:
 querying the user regarding their association with the emergency;   receiving confirmation from the user that they are associated with the emergency; and   including the user in the set of at-risk users.   
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein determining a set of at-risk users from the plurality of users as being associated with the emergency event node comprises, for at least one of the plurality of users:
 displaying, to one or more connections of the user, a reason why the user is potentially at risk;   receiving, from at least one of the one or more connections, an indication that the user is at risk; and   including the user in the set of at-risk users.   
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein determining a set of at-risk users from the plurality of users as being associated with the emergency event node comprises, for at least one of the plurality of users:
 displaying, to one or more connections of the user, a reason why the user may be at risk;   receiving, from at least one of the one or more connections, an indication that the user is not at risk; and   not including the user in the set of at-risk users.   
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the communicating the status update comprises distributing the status update in a newsfeed feed. 
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the communicating the status update comprises distributing the status update using a push notification. 
     
     
         10 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a request to establish the emergency event node, the request comprising a list of persons associated with the emergency,   wherein determining the set of at-risk users comprises comparing the list of persons with identifying information associated with the plurality of users of the social networking system.   
     
     
         11 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 establishing an emergency event node in a social networking system;   identifying a set of at-risk users relative to the emergency event node;   associating a status update with each of the users in the set of at-risk users who are associated with the emergency event node;   providing an interface to a viewing user of the social networking system to view information associated with the emergency event node in the social networking system;   excluding a user from a plurality of users associated with the emergency event node if the viewing user does not have access privileges to information associating the connection with the emergency event node;   filtering the plurality of users;   sorting the filtered users, the sorting based in part on the filtered users' membership in the set of at-risk users; and   sending, for display to the viewing user, information about at least a portion of the sorted users, the information including the status updates of the sorted users.   
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , where the filtering is responsive to an input received from the viewing user into the interface. 
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the filtering is based on location information associated with the plurality of users. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the filtering is based on membership in a group. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein one or more of the status updates includes a safety indicator positively indicating that the user in the set of at-risk users associated with the status update has been identified as safe. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 15 , wherein the filtering is based on the safety indicator of the plurality of users associated with the emergency event node. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the information for display further includes identification of one or more connections that have indicated that the user is safe. 
     
     
         18 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 17 , wherein at least one additional connection is excluded from the information for display to the viewing user based on a privacy setting of the at least one additional connection. 
     
     
         19 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the information for display further includes one or more comments from one or more connections of the at-risk user 
     
     
         20 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 19 , wherein at least one comment is excluded from the information for display to the viewing user based on a privacy setting of the connection who posted the at least one comment.