iPhone Facebook App with 'Places'
Discussion
A potentially useful hoon tool (when it works the UK, the icon is there but it says 'available soon'):
Facebook Places is a new application for mobile phones that enables Facebook users to alert their friends to their current location. Although the service is currently only available in the US, Facebook said it will be rolling out the tool to other countries in the coming months.
Facebook believes Places will also enable its users to take advantage of unexpected coincidences – such as discovering that they are at the same concert as their friends. Users can “check in” when they arrive at a location, just as in rival service Foursquare, and see whether any of their friends are nearby.
When a Facebook user checks in to a location, an update will automatically be published to their friends’ News Feeds. They can also “tag” friends who are in the same location, either by way of a photo or a status update.
Facebook has partnered with other geolocation companies, including Gowalla, Foursquare, InCrowd and Yelp, to integrate their services in to Facebook Places.
Privacy safeguards
Several aspects of Facebook Places are turned on by default, meaning that users will need to explicitly opt-out of these features.
By default, check-ins made on Facebook Places will be published to a user’s profile, their news feed and in the ‘activity stream’ for that location; whenever they check in at a location, they will be automatically included in the ‘People here now’ list for that location; friends can also check in another user without their explicit permission, and users will need to opt out of this setting if they want to control how much information is broadcast about their location.
While Facebook has been keen to stress that Places is designed to make it easier to stay in touch with friends, rather than broadcast a user’s whereabouts to the world, the new service is likely to reignite the long-running debate about online privacy. Facebook has been criticised in recent months for the complexity of its privacy settings and for making many features opt-out rather than opt-in. Some aspects of Facebook Places appear to follow this trend.
Facebook stresses that only a user’s friends will be able to see where they have checked in or been tagged, unless the user explicitly decides to share this information with everyone.
Users can decide whether or not to broadcast their location when they check in somewhere; users can only tag friends in the same location who give permission for this to happen; and people will be notified every time they are tagged by a friend in Places. Likewise, users can turn off the function that allows their friends to automatically check them in to a location, by turning off the “Let friends check me in” function in their privacy settings.
Facebook users will be able to see a list of other people who are currently checked in at the same location. Facebook said that the list will only be available for a limited amount of time, and will only be visible to people in that location. Users can opt out of appearing in these lists by going in to the privacy settings on their account, and unsticking the box marked “Include me in ‘People here now’ after I check in”.
Facebook hopes that developers will build third-party applications – such as travel planners – to take advantage of this location information. Facebook said that all applications must get the explicit permission of users before using their location information. Users will also be able to switch off the feature that automatically shares check-ins with applications installed on their friends’ Facebook accounts – that setting can be found under the “Applications and websites” feature of Privacy settings.
Facebook Places is a new application for mobile phones that enables Facebook users to alert their friends to their current location. Although the service is currently only available in the US, Facebook said it will be rolling out the tool to other countries in the coming months.
Facebook believes Places will also enable its users to take advantage of unexpected coincidences – such as discovering that they are at the same concert as their friends. Users can “check in” when they arrive at a location, just as in rival service Foursquare, and see whether any of their friends are nearby.
When a Facebook user checks in to a location, an update will automatically be published to their friends’ News Feeds. They can also “tag” friends who are in the same location, either by way of a photo or a status update.
Facebook has partnered with other geolocation companies, including Gowalla, Foursquare, InCrowd and Yelp, to integrate their services in to Facebook Places.
Privacy safeguards
Several aspects of Facebook Places are turned on by default, meaning that users will need to explicitly opt-out of these features.
By default, check-ins made on Facebook Places will be published to a user’s profile, their news feed and in the ‘activity stream’ for that location; whenever they check in at a location, they will be automatically included in the ‘People here now’ list for that location; friends can also check in another user without their explicit permission, and users will need to opt out of this setting if they want to control how much information is broadcast about their location.
While Facebook has been keen to stress that Places is designed to make it easier to stay in touch with friends, rather than broadcast a user’s whereabouts to the world, the new service is likely to reignite the long-running debate about online privacy. Facebook has been criticised in recent months for the complexity of its privacy settings and for making many features opt-out rather than opt-in. Some aspects of Facebook Places appear to follow this trend.
Facebook stresses that only a user’s friends will be able to see where they have checked in or been tagged, unless the user explicitly decides to share this information with everyone.
Users can decide whether or not to broadcast their location when they check in somewhere; users can only tag friends in the same location who give permission for this to happen; and people will be notified every time they are tagged by a friend in Places. Likewise, users can turn off the function that allows their friends to automatically check them in to a location, by turning off the “Let friends check me in” function in their privacy settings.
Facebook users will be able to see a list of other people who are currently checked in at the same location. Facebook said that the list will only be available for a limited amount of time, and will only be visible to people in that location. Users can opt out of appearing in these lists by going in to the privacy settings on their account, and unsticking the box marked “Include me in ‘People here now’ after I check in”.
Facebook hopes that developers will build third-party applications – such as travel planners – to take advantage of this location information. Facebook said that all applications must get the explicit permission of users before using their location information. Users will also be able to switch off the feature that automatically shares check-ins with applications installed on their friends’ Facebook accounts – that setting can be found under the “Applications and websites” feature of Privacy settings.
In theory you can only check into places that are recognised by the app, if it's just businesses then it's the genius of 'monetising' Facebook as they say ''why not pay to be a place''. If your bog is a business in it's own right there's no reason it couldn't be registered but don't quote me 
I'd like to have a play to see how it works as I'm trying to do Facebook integration on a website but it freezes here, could be a dodgy signal or something.
I'd like to have a play to see how it works as I'm trying to do Facebook integration on a website but it freezes here, could be a dodgy signal or something.
hewlett said:
In theory you can only check into places that are recognised by the app, if it's just businesses then it's the genius of 'monetising' Facebook as they say ''why not pay to be a place''. If your bog is a business in it's own right there's no reason it couldn't be registered but don't quote me
I'd like to have a play to see how it works as I'm trying to do Facebook integration on a website but it freezes here, could be a dodgy signal or something.
same here, dont work on my ipon eiether!!!I'd like to have a play to see how it works as I'm trying to do Facebook integration on a website but it freezes here, could be a dodgy signal or something.
I got it working 'Location Services for the FB app was turned off'. It looks like you can 'check in' to recognised places around you and then that posts 'Joe Cafe Nero in Woking' to your FB profile. Fun to be had in theory as you can choose from the list, Terry is in Pandoras Poodle Parlour etc etc
hewlett said:
In theory you can only check into places that are recognised by the app, if it's just businesses then it's the genius of 'monetising' Facebook as they say ''why not pay to be a place''. If your bog is a business in it's own right there's no reason it couldn't be registered but don't quote me
I'd like to have a play to see how it works as I'm trying to do Facebook integration on a website but it freezes here, could be a dodgy signal or something.
Wrong, you can add new places.I'd like to have a play to see how it works as I'm trying to do Facebook integration on a website but it freezes here, could be a dodgy signal or something.
Brilliant, I guess the + sign at the top was the clue 
Only one person I know has published their location yet. Much better than sending a status update 'I is currently eating Pizza in Zizis, come and join me'. If I was a youngster and out on the town of a Saturday night this would be well useful for that, assuming my mates had FB on the go. Generally, I like it - the fact that you choose what you publish is ideal.
Only one person I know has published their location yet. Much better than sending a status update 'I is currently eating Pizza in Zizis, come and join me'. If I was a youngster and out on the town of a Saturday night this would be well useful for that, assuming my mates had FB on the go. Generally, I like it - the fact that you choose what you publish is ideal.
hewlett said:
I got it working 'Location Services for the FB app was turned off'. It looks like you can 'check in' to recognised places around you and then that posts 'Joe Cafe Nero in Woking' to your FB profile. Fun to be had in theory as you can choose from the list, Terry is in Pandoras Poodle Parlour etc etc
how did you do it??? as i cant get mine working at all
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