This week Facebook rolled out a new feature called “Nearby Friends”. The first thing to know is that it is an optional service that you must enable it– Facebook will not turn it on automatically for you unlike other features in the past.
Using GPS technology built into your smartphone (iOS and Android) and the Facebook mobile app, Facebook can tell you which friends are nearby and will tell them where you are. You can make this reciprocal service available to all of your friends, or use lists (a nice feature in Facebook – see link below) to control who can see your information.
Once you tell Facebook you want to use their service, you get alerts when your friends are close – but remember they also get alerts when you are close. Facebook does this within a half-mile radius – I’m guessing this will be more popular in an urban setting than out in the countryside…
You also get to adjust who sees your exact location and for how long. You are allowed to modify settings so that only certain friends get your exact location, others get an approximate location. I suspect this level of control allows Facebook so avoid some of the privacy complaints that are bound to arise from this new service.
I can see a whole new set of concerns on personal privacy and evidence gathering. Friends will now have more information about their friends - including their locations. Does this create an entirely new legion of private investigators - your "friends"? It also means you might need to be far more careful about who you friend on Facebook and your settings if you use this new feature.
Here are some links I've collected to help you learn more: