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I Am Here! Facebook Places Has Arrived
Millions of people logged into Facebook last month to be greeted with a brand new location sharing service cleverly dubbed 'Facebook Places'. After getting over the initial confusion as to why my friends were informing me that they were either at home or at work I managed to gather that:
- Facebook Places had landed.
- My work colleague was officially sat across from me.
Facebook Places was launched in US last month before it arrived in the UK last week, so far it has been criticised by groups claiming that it is an invasion of privacy and heralded by others believing that it is another step forward in social networking. Facebook’s product manager Michael Sharon has stated that there were three goals behind the launch of 'Places' "to make it easier to share where you are, discover new places and discover new friends".
The service allows Facebook users to opt out of sharing their location however judging by the amount of people already declaring themselves to be at their local pub or shopping centre; it appears that many are ignoring the warnings of those against the service. One of the biggest criticisms of 'Places' is that it is inviting unwanted attention, with many already referring to it as a 'Stalkers Paradise'. In some ways this is a valid point, if you publish your home address you are informing everyone on your Facebook friend list just where you sleep at night. Of course this is no problem if your friends are all non-stalker types, but let's be fair-there's always that one oddball that seems a bit too eager to 'like' your status isn't there?
Facebook Places has already been linked to a string of robberies in the US where robbers allegedly targeted the homes of Facebook users that had advertised themselves as officially not at home. Facebook has already spoken out on the importance of the potential privacy risks associated with the service and warned people not to promote the fact that their homes are empty.
Facebook Places it set to become just another normal Facebook feature over the next few months, joining the status tag as another way to advertise the who, what, where's and why's of your life.