Location-based services now play up on most social networks and when always on the move, they sure should be of help. Facebook enhances its Places for iPhone application allowing users to now keep a track of their own locations as well as their friends and update their whereabouts in real-time.
As per the Facebook blog, on the iPhone application users need to tap on Places option followed by ‘Check in’. Further a page opens with a list of nearby places and they can select the ones matching the location where they might be. In case, users can’t find their preferred place then they can either search or add it. On the friends News Feeds, the check in will display a story in the Recent Activity segment for that place. By ‘checking in’, users can share their locations with friends and discover if any of them would be present at the same place at the same time. They can also view if their friends have checked-in to the nearby location.
Other than tagging friends, users can post an update of their situations as well while checking-in. They can even view as to how many people have checked in with them, thanks to the ‘People Here Now’ section. This segment is only applicable for checked in users and is visible for just a limited period of time. If not interested to appear on this section, then users can uncheck the ‘Include me in ‘People Here Now’ after I check in’ privacy control.
Users can set various restrictive customized settings on their profiles for not revealing their status updates to everyone. They will receive tag notifications on their profiles as well on their mobile devices which will further give an option to allow their friends to check in places or not. If they do not permit them to check-in, the next time they tag users, the name will be displayed similarly to the ones tagged on status updates.
Mobile enthusiasts can anytime eliminate Places check-in or tag options from their mobile phones or web. They can even remove the ability of letting friends check-in their locations by tapping on the Privacy Settings option followed by turning off the ‘Let Friends Check Me In’. For sharing experiences with third party applications like travel planning, users must first receive approval information for the same. Friends can share their experiences through other applications, but non-interested users can uncheck ‘Applications and Websites’ in the Privacy Settings.
The functionality is only available in the United States and in the near future will be made available in more countries and mobile platforms.