Palo Alto , California ( CNN ) -- Facebook is already adept at handling public-relations blunders , but the company is beginning to focus on how it can help with real calamities . About a dozen disaster-relief workers from governments and nonprofit organizations convened this week for a five-hour meeting at Facebook 's offices here in Palo Alto , California , and via teleconference from Washington . While the groups , which included members from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and California Emergency Management Agency , were grateful for the gesture , they were not above taking good-humored jabs at Facebook for its rocky relations with government . `` Thank you so much for inviting us here , '' Kelly Huston , a Cal EMA spokesman , said near the end of the assembly . `` I know your interaction with government is n't great because we 're suing you all the time for privacy issues . '' Meanwhile , another Facebook privacy debate was stewing during the meeting when Facebook began widening the reach of its facial-recognition feature . European Union regulators will hold an inquiry about the matter , Bloomberg reports . The Tuesday event was Facebook 's first noteworthy collaboration with emergency-response organizations , spokespeople said . Site administrators currently manage a page called Global Disaster Relief on Facebook . It has about 540,000 members , or less than 1 % of Facebook 's total user base -- but still more than the combined Facebook fans for all the groups that attended the meeting . FEMA and the American Red Cross representatives offered occasional insights from Washington . FEMA Administrator William Craig Fugate , who was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009 , met with Facebook in October but was not present at this week 's meeting . `` Discussions like these help us learn from each other about what is working well and what is n't , '' Shayne Adamski , a FEMA senior manager who attended the meeting , wrote in an e-mailed statement . For some , the affair was an education seminar , a chance to ask questions to the masters of the platform . Wendy Harman , the social media director for the Red Cross , expressed frustrations with managing Facebook pages . `` It makes me want to cry thinking about making 80,000 instances and updating them into eternity , '' she said . Facebook spokespeople were quick to offer suggestions . `` We can play a really important role in educating , '' said Dave Steer , who manages Facebook 's trust and safety team . `` This is one of the reasons we convened this kind of forum . '' The Red Cross extended an open invitation to Facebook to embed with its disaster-relief team , Harman said . Google , which has more than 20 times as many employees as Facebook , devoted a `` small team '' last year to building projects that help provide disaster-related news or organize search efforts for missing people . Tumblr , the blogging platform , has added buttons to its site that encourage bloggers to donate to disaster relief efforts . Facebook was less apt to promise dedicated resources from its 2,000 employees . Steer suggested Facebook could create an internal think tank focused on disaster response . `` How do we leverage some of the minds of the people who work here to tackle the technical problems ? '' he asked . Company spokesman Frederic Wolens added : `` Facebook is the platform . '' Some were n't fully convinced of Facebook 's dedication to the cause . `` I know that Facebook is a platform , and you want to push that , but going beyond marketing Facebook , '' said Heather Blanchard , co-founder of the nonprofit Crisis Commons , `` part of it is about recording history . '' `` You have an entire research population hungry for what you know , '' she added . Facebook plans to discuss the feedback it received from the organizations over the next few weeks and will determine how best to handle the requests . Tuesday 's agenda included a brainstorming session for a Facebook application dedicated to disaster relief , but the concept was n't discussed at length . Facebook liaisons offered technical guidance and recorded talking points and ideas on whiteboards : one bolted to the wall and the other projected digitally . In the past , Facebook has held similar summits with organizations addressing bullying , suicide and privacy issues . Social media tools have quickly become a mainstay for disaster response in many countries . Twitter saw the third-highest activity on its service after the Japan earthquake in March , a spokesman said . Justin Osofsky , Facebook 's director of partnerships , highlighted `` stuff that happens organically '' in response to disasters , such as the page for finding items lost during the Joplin , Missouri , tornado . By highlighting these grassroots programs in addition to promoting those from government and nonprofits , Facebook thinks it can help . `` There 's a thirst for information , '' Steer said . `` Now the onus is on us to quench that thirst . ''
Facebook hosted a meeting of companies and nonprofit groups to talk disasters . Google is considering offering more data or creating an internal think tank . Representatives from NASA and the Red Cross were among those in attendance .