Facebook Launches 'Places' Location Check-Ins

Well, not working here in Central California but I think the feature is pretty cool. If I had more friends that used Twitter I would use that to broadcast my location. I have several FB friends that are constantly posting about golf courses we've played or vacations etc. This makes it much more streamlined in my opinion.

edit: nevermind, just started working.
 
The amount of stupidity in this thread is mind-blowing. Don't want people to know where you are? Don't check in. It's so simple.
 
emt1 said:
The amount of stupidity in this thread is mind-blowing. Don't want people to know where you are? Don't check in. It's so simple.
Click to expand...

By default, your friends can check you in to any location - whether you're there or not.

That's where the real privacy concern is coming from.

It's one thing if YOU put your location out to the world, but it's another thing entirely when your friends can do it (and I'm sure many would do that, quite innocently).
 
Give A Monkey A Mirror.....

Only the under 30 crowd is excited about this.

But hey, it takes a while to develop common sense.

To the "unhip", this looks like yet another way to bore each other to death.

I must say though, for criminals...things are looking up.
 
SeattleMoose said:
Only the under 30 crowd is excited about this.

But hey, it takes a while to develop common sense.

To the "unhip", this looks like yet another way to bore each other to death.

I must say though, for criminals...things are looking up.
Click to expand...

I'm almost 35 and have no issues with this new feature. But i have been using Foursquare for awhile....Most of the non-friends on Facebook live halfway around the world, so I am not really worried about them breaking into my house. Most of the others are Master Masons, and I really don't see one of them doing it. And besides that is what insurance is for...
 
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MattInOz said:
Why does it work only in the US?
Click to expand...
Actually I got it to work in the UK by using the virtual private network feature on my iPhone. Created a 'place' last night and was able to check-in, and saw my location posted on my wall, but as I was at home at the time I deleted the post. Doesn't seem to be a straightforward way to check out, although I guess I need to play around with it a bit more.

Created a few more 'places' on the way into work this morning at various train stations and at the little park where I eat lunch sometimes. Might check-in at the stations on the way home just so that my partner (she does facebook more than I) can have fun tracking me. Don't intend to use this service as I don't really want 'friends' (which includes my boss) knowing where I am all the time .
 
SeattleMoose said:
I must say though, for criminals...things are looking up.
Click to expand...


If you add friends and family only then shouldn't be a problem. If it is then you need to pick your friends more carefully and family you associate with.

I remember when Twinkle and some other twitter apps use to broadcast your location.
 
I was interested in trying this out, but when I updated FB for iPhone it crashed and I haven't been able to get it working again since.
 
Facebook Places vs Foursquare vs Scvngr

Though I am well over 30 I had been using Foursquare for the past couple of months only because most of my friends (who are mostly 20 somethings) are using it, but I did get pretty bored with it and always thought to myself "Why am I even bothering." (I know, to unlock the badges for some reason.) Facebook's Places is identical to Foursquare and they will be integrating both apps together soon, apparently.

But I just saw a TedTalk from a guy who has a company called Scvngr and they have an app (also called Scvngr: link to app) much like Places but with an added layer in which you have very specific goals to achieve in order to make it more fun. For example, if you walk into an American Apparel and check in, you then have the task of taking a photo of yourself posed like the Mannequin in the store window. When you do this [enough times at various locations] you unlock a reward of a badge. Apparently all of these badges (for both Scvngr and Foursquare) are supposed to, eventually, give you discounts at these various stores... it hasn't happened for me yet.

So, security concerns aside, do you think these things add value for the consumer? Of course it does for the companies gathering the market research data (it's a goldmine for them!) but what do these Location Services apps need to do to make this worth opening the app and "checking in" each time you walk into a place? Scvngr seems to have made their's a little more interesting by adding this game layer to the "check in" process (your life as a game) but is it enough?

I recommend watching the TedTalk that I linked to above as it explains it all better, but I still ask myself, "why the hell am I bothering to 'check in' ".
 
horrible facebook update can't login and when i was able to log in i was not able to to view any of my messages.

i guess it's touch.facebook.com until they can fix.
 
any one else finding this release buggy?

any one else finding this release buggy?

mine doesnt load properly and restarts often.... was great b4..

on an iPhone 4.. any one else:mad:
 
emt1 said:
The amount of stupidity in this thread is mind-blowing. Don't want people to know where you are? Don't check in. It's so simple.
Click to expand...

+1

And LEARN to manage your FB privacy settings. Every friend should belong to some type of list, with privacy settings to match your comfort level.
 
jav6454 said:
Great, more ways of other people telling the world where you are without your permission.
Click to expand...

FTFY

edit: The Norwegian goverment today declared Facebook's new "Places"-integration might be illegal, and will discuss this matter with contacts in the EU.

They probably can't stop it, but I'm glad they're raising awereness of the privacy issues. I just don't see why there isn't at least a button you have to click to activate this. There's plenty of people who login to their FB accounts very rarely, including myself. I'm just glad I was informed about this by the media and in forums, so I can go and disable this feature ASAP.
 
karlwig said:
FTFY

edit: The Norwegian goverment today declared Facebook's new "Places"-integration might be illegal, and will discuss this matter with contacts in the EU.

They probably can't stop it, but I'm glad they're raising awereness of the privacy issues. I just don't see why there isn't at least a button you have to click to activate this. There's plenty of people who login to their FB accounts very rarely, including myself. I'm just glad I was informed about this by the media and in forums, so I can go and disable this feature ASAP.
Click to expand...

Wow! Really? Have you even used the feature in this app? It's not like if you have the Facebook app and you stumble into a place it will automatically tell the world where you live! Which is how some of you are making it sound... :rolleyes:

You literally have to hit the big button labeled "Places" and then hit the "Check In" button in the upper right corner to get a list of places near your current location ( that's if you have already activated location services for the app) and then choose the place you are at, or even a place you are not actually at, and then hit the big blue "Check In" button below that for it to finally show your Facebook friends where you want them to think you are at. It takes at least 3 button presses to Check In to anywhere!

Stop with all the fear mongering you bunch of whining babies!
 
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