( CNN ) -- Computer networks ca n't feel or understand jokes , but software engineers have hardwired some compassion . Mechanisms in place in Facebook 's system and in Google 's search engine can look for suicidal messages and direct people to help . Facebook is encouraging its 800 million users to use a system the company created to flag suicidal or otherwise violent messages . If someone is posting unsettling photos or writing status updates about killing himself or herself , friends can click on a `` report suicidal content '' link . At Facebook , staff members are monitoring these reports at all times of the day , a spokesman told CNN in June . Facebook investigates each report and may send a suicidal person an e-mail offering phone numbers for suicide hot lines , he said . That feature has been around since at least the summer , but Facebook said in a statement on Tuesday that it is expanding a partnership with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline , which is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration . In addition to phone support , the lifeline will now let Facebook users communicate with suicide prevention specialists in a Web chat room , the statement said . The national suicide hot line and Facebook have been partnering since 2006 , lifeline project director John Draper said in a statement . Google added a feature to its U.S. search engine in April 2010 that displays a picture of a red telephone and the phone number for the lifeline when people are searching for suicide-related topics . Earlier , the company launched a similar feature for a poison-control hot line after receiving an e-mail from a mother who had trouble finding the number when her daughter ingested something poisonous , a Google spokeswoman said . `` In times of crisis , it 's important to try to help people by quickly providing information , '' the spokeswoman wrote in an e-mail . `` It 's a privilege for Google to be working with the NSPL and to be providing support on this important issue . ''
Facebook and Google have new mechanisms for helping suicidal people . Facebook lets friends report troubling messages and # ##s follow up . Google places the phone number for a hot ##line at the top of relevant search results .