Unsurprisingly, the giant social network, Facebook, joins the location game to compete with other social networks such as Foursquare and Gowalla. On Wednesday, Facebook officially announced the launch of Places, a big new feature that lets you share where you are with friends. Following the announcement, the Facebook iPhone app are also updated to incorporate the [...]
Unsurprisingly, the giant social network, Facebook, joins the location game to compete with other social networks such as Foursquare and Gowalla.
On Wednesday, Facebook officially announced the launch of Places, a big new feature that lets you share where you are with friends. Following the announcement, the Facebook iPhone app are also updated to incorporate the “Places” feature.
With the recent update, the mobile Facebook app provides an option for you to share your location by “checking in” to that place and letting friends know where you are. Same as News Feed in Facebook, your friend can “like” your specific location that is shared via news update. Another notable feature is you can even tag your friend who are with you and check in the location for him/her. On a map, you can easily see if any of your friends have also chosen to check in nearby.
Presently, Places is only available in the United States. If you’re in US, update the Facebook app to the latest version or simply go ahead to touch.facebook.com to try out the feature. As explained by Facebook product manager for Places, you can simply go to Places and tap the “Check-in” button to share your location:
Go to Places on the iPhone application or touch.facebook.com site and then tap the “Check In” button. You’ll see a list of places near you. Choose the place that matches where you are. If it’s not on the list, search for it or add it. After checking in, your check-in will create a story in your friends’ News Feeds and show up in the Recent Activity section on the page for that place.
As I am not in US, I do not have chance to try out the Places feature. Call me old fashioned, however. I am not very interested in sharing my location with all my friends in Facebook. If you are like me and concerned about privacy, take extra care of the privacy settings in Facebook. Make sure you do not set the master privacy control to “Everyone” and say “no” when someone tags your location:
When a friend tags you through Places, you will receive a notification on Facebook and on your mobile device. The first time this happens, you’ll be given the choice to allow your friends to check you in to places.
When your friends check you in, it is as if you have checked in at that place yourself. You also will appear checked-in to your friends. If you do not allow friends to check you in, then when they tag you at a place, your name will appear in the same way it appears in a tagged status update. You will not appear checked-in at that place.
Here is a video that explains the new “Places” feature:
What do you think about the Places feature? For those who have tried out the Facebook Places, do leave us comment and share your experience.
Marisa Miller
Cat Power
Moon Bloodgood
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