Would you be comfortable revealing your every location to the world? Well, now you can with the new Places service for Facebook. It works like geo-tagging of your photos – only for your status updates. Who really needs to know you’ve just checked into home? Your parents? A controlling partner? Stalker, perhaps? I may be cynical, but all I’m trying to say is, is it really safe to have your whereabouts on top of all your personal information so publicly and freely available?
The ‘location-aware service’ – as Facebook like to describe it as to make it sound less intrusive – allows users to see where all your friends are, be it near or far. Launched last week in the UK, following its release in the US last month, you can now not only know with who, what and when, but now… where all your friends are.
The social networking giant came on to the scene in 2004, and now six years on boasts 500 million active users. Facebook makes millions each year through advertising, enabling Places on your mobile phone will allow local businesses and nearby attractions to advertise to people based on where they ‘check in’.
I don’t know about you, but ‘checking in’ sounds like I’m being ‘checked upon’. Don’t get me wrong, there are privacy controls set up to help you monitor the amount of location information that you share. Although, this is coming from the company whose privacy track record has come under much scrutiny in recent years; with, at one point, users’ content still active upon deactivating their accounts. This raises the question, could our location be tracked and stored for years to come?
You can ‘opt in’ to the Places service, but you may call me naïve in thinking who is really that keen and willing to tell the world where they are? The scenario that Jack is in the shopping centre and spots Jill is in the café nearby and so they both arrange to meet up appears to be somewhat gimmicky. If someone truly wanted to meet up in the city centre, you would call or text your friend to arrange it, surely?
Social revolution, gimmick or one step closer to ‘big brother’-like society? You decide.
