What is Facebook Places?

Mark Wahlberg has just launched a brand new Facebook geo-location feature which has become instantly available to U.S users, known as Facebook Places

The new feature will work alongside current location based features on Facebook, however will provide a new way for friends, family and acquaintances to update one another of their whereabouts, simply by picking their location from a drop-down list. It also provides the opportunity for Facebook users to discover new places in their areas, as well as the hot-spots where other people hang out.

Facebook Places will work in conjunction with Bing Maps to allow users to “pin-point locations”, and will also incorporate the type of geo-tagging popular on smart-phones. Users will be able to tag their friends in the same way as they do in status updates and photos, then share it with others. Additionally users can check who else may be in their location by using the “People Here Now” tab, perfect for finding people you don’t often connect with who coincidentally may be in the same place as you.

The user interface of Places is extremely simple. Once in a location, users simply click on the Places option, found alongside the Friends and News tabs on the left hand side of their page, then type in the name of their location. Once found, the user then simply clicks “check in” which updates their “wall” with their location details.

Whilst currently only available in the United States, Facebook Places is set to be rolled out around the globe. It will be available to both online and iPhone users whose devices support HTML5.

Concerns have been expressed since the launch announcement regarding the privacy issues with the latest feature, however Facebook have assured us that it will work in the same way as present features and privacy settings. The feature can also be switched off if necessary, however updates can only be done manually so it’s down to individual choice, and tagging preferences will also be in place.