As the 21st century goes along, a problem that is specifically related to the growing use of the internet has popped up. With the expanding use of social media sites, more and more kids are using sites like Facebook and Twitter (News - Alert) to tell their followers that they are having suicidal thoughts. At times these particular posts are coming when it is much too late. At other times they are being broadcast as a severe cry for help.

For its part, Facebook (News - Alert) is launching a new service today that is aimed at getting users who are having suicidal thoughts get help that much quicker. The service will allow someone who is looking for it to be able to speak to a crisis counselor instaneously through the site's chat feature. This is just the latest step in the site's changing their approach to those who are victimized. Facebook also recently change the way it handles reports of bullying. The users on Facebook form an extraordinarily large 800 million community. With that many people, there are bound to be several different kinds of personalities.

Fred Wolens, who is the public policy manager for Facebook told the Associated Press (News - Alert) that, “One of the big goals here is to get the person in distress into the right help as soon as possible.” Yahoo and Google (News - Alert) have long been fighting suicide in their own ways, by having the Suicide Prevention Hotline's toll free number be the first term that is returned whenever someone searches for “suicide.”

Facebook is taking these steps because the site has long known that people who are feeling deeply depressed will often turn to help without taking all the steps needed in order to get that kind of help. The ability to chat instantly with someone who is trained in this kind of thing will help those who are seeking out the help. 

The German company Secure.me has recently offered the ability for parents to better monitor their children when they are on Facebook. This tool could also come in handy when talking about deeply depressed children. The site has been and continues to work on other tools to help suicide prevention.