Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Google Directs Suicide-Related Searches to Help Hotline

by Terrence O'Brien on April 5, 2010 at 04:53 PM

Google Directs Suicide Related Searches to Help Hotline

A few months ago, Google began displaying a red phone icon and the number for the poison control center whenever anyone searched for terms like "poison" or "poison emergency." The idea came from a user who complained that finding the number for poison control was too hard to find when she searched for it. So Google started automatically promoting the number to the top of the page for poison related searches. Now the search company is performing a similar trick with searches related to suicide.

If a user performs a search for "suicide," "how to kill yourself," or other flagged terms, Google automatically places the phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at the top of the page. Some searches won't get the result, but as Dr. Roni Zeiger, chief health strategist for Google, told the New York Times, the company is "starting relatively conservatively."



Obviously, the hope is that some people looking for advice on how to leave this mortal coil will call and find a reason to hang on. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached at (800) 273-8255. [From: New York Times]

Tags: google, health, hotline, NationalSuicidePreventionLifeline, search, suicide, top

Comments

3

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular