Facebook makes it easy to donate blood in India with a new feature

 Facebook is making it easier for users in India to donate blood. The Mark Zuckerberg-led firm is doing this by adding a feature wherein it will be showing a message in users' news feed from where they can sign up to be blood donors. The feature will start showing up on the timeline from October 1, which is also the National Blood Donor Day.

"Starting October 1 — National Blood Donor Day — Facebook users in India will be able to start signing up to be blood donors. To help encourage participation, we'll show a message in News Feed or people can edit their Profiles to sign up," said Hema Budaraju Product Manager, Health in the company's Newsroom website.

Users will initially see the message on Android and mobile web, as Facebook says these are the most widely-used platforms in India.

Budaraju says the all information will be private and will remain set on 'Only Me' privacy option by default. Users, however, can choose to share their donor status with friends or everyone outside the friend list.

The social media platform has clubbed with nonprofit organizations, health industry experts, potential donors and others for this initiative. "We hope this new feature helps people come together in ways that weren't possible before. By raising awareness and growing the number of blood donors in India, we want to make it easier for people and organizations to give and receive blood," added Budaraju.

Facebook is not only trying to raise awareness for blood donation but is also trying out integration of its other services in its main app. The company is trying out a new WhatsApp button in its app. The button is supposed to function as a shortcut to open the WhatsApp window without leaving the main app.