Facebook knows where you are

A new feature will soon allow (it’s not live in New Zealand yet) you to share your location by "checking in" to a place and letting friends know where you are. You can also see if any of your friends have checked in nearby.

“Ever gone to a show, only to find out afterward that your friends were there too?” asks the Facebook blog. “With Places, you can discover moments when you and your friends are at the same place at the same time.”

Once checked in you can tag friends who are with you and post an update along with your check-in location.

From a privacy point of view, Facebook has built controls into the app that are already available to users.

“With Places, you are in control of what you share and the people you share with,” says Michael Sharon, Facebook Product Manager for Places. “You choose whether or not to share your location when you check in at a place. When you check in, you can tag friends who are with you but only if their settings allow it.”

When you are tagged, you are always notified.

Yesterday Facebook said that Places is slowly rolling out to all US users. “If you have already downloaded the new version of the Facebook iPhone application or are accessing the touch.facebook.com, but are not yet able to check in, please try again soon. This will become available to everyone over the next few days.”

Is Facebook Places a feature you’d welcome into your profile or have you already turned it off?

You can find out more about Facebook Places (including how to turn it off) here.