Facebook is taking a page from rival social network Foursquare’s book by letting users ‘check in’ to locations. The new Places feature lets users share where they are, figure out who is in the vicinity, and check out happenings and services within the same locale.
Users can ‘check in’ from their smartphones, broadcasting their location – anywhere from a restaurant to a park – to their own Facebook friends. Their whereabouts are then flashed through the network’s status updates and can look up the locations of friends who are similarly checked in – either via updates or on a separate Web page – or tag friends who happen to physically be with them, thus declaring where they are.
Places also features a ‘People Here Now’ section, which will alert Facebook users to others at the same location. “This section is visible for a limited amount of time and only to people who are checked in there,” Facebook said in a blog post. “That way you can meet other people who might share your interests.” Users must opt out of that feature if they don’t wish to use it.
For some, the system will raise privacy concerns. “They want to make sure they’ve done their homework, because privacy does become a concern right out of the gate,” said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at consulting and analyst firm Altimeter Group. “They don’t want to introduce this and then have to come back and fix it.”
Facebook will allow users to block Places functions as part of a comprehensive set of privacy controls and other safeguards. “This is not about broadcasting your location to the world, it’s about sharing where you are with your friends,” said Michael Sharon, product manager for Places.
By pinpointing users’ locations, Places also opens up the potential for location based advertising, although Facebook said it had no immediate plans to pursue such money-making opportunities. The feature could let Facebook eventually, for example, target users by offering special coupons when a user nears a certain business, supplementing the $700 million to $800 million that Facebook generated in revenue last year, according to people familiar with the matter.
While Places clearly looks to compete with the likes of Foursquare, that system is also being integrated into the new Facebook service.
Foursquare, one of the fastest-growing location services, has amassed 2.7 million users since its March 2009 launch and raised $20 million in venture capital funding in June. Facebook and Yahoo both unsuccessfully sought to acquire Foursquare earlier this year, according to media reports.
Places starts rolling out this week in the US, with global rollout dates to be confirmed.
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