While this seems like a really cool idea, I have a feeling that this is the sort of feature that everyone will enable at first, and then one single bad event will cause them to disable it forever.
I'm sure everyone has told a "white lie" at some point (e.g. "Sorry, I can't really hang out tonight because I'm not feeling well" == "I want to go see a movie by myself"), and anything that might hinder your ability to do that is likely to be disabled permanently the first time it causes an issue (or even in anticipation of it causing an issue).
It's weird because they've had a feature similar to this before. It was under a tab called "Nearby" or something in their left navigation. If I remember correctly it was web only but a user could access it on their phones through the mobile site. I liked it. It wasn't as one-to-one as this iteration of it though. It would only show you where someone recently checked-in. It was quite accurate though.
It eventually just went away. I wonder why they got rid of that, but now are doing something like this.
While most posts are touching on privacy or failure cases, I am still struggling to understand this product from a social perspective. First of all, this general idea has been floating around since companies like loopt, when mobile started taking off. I remember working through the use case considerations for this kind of product, and that's where it really dies.
This breed of product is based on the idea that location = event. If someone is at a location, that means something is going on. But it ignores massive implicit social constructs: 1. Facebook friends are not real friends (Circles is slightly better but classification is onerous), 2. Someone you don't know well is unlikely to share their location to you, and less likely to agree to hang out based on location, in contrast someone you do know well, you will easily be aware of their location and availability.
The reality is that this product captures one piece of information - where is my friend right now. But on any serious reflection, you should be able to discern that this piece of information is incredibly secondary to the nature of the actual relationship when determining whether or not to hang out.
One place I can see this being useful is at music festivals or other large open-area events. Often you're going with other people, but you're not necessarily going to stick together the entire time. Being able to find each other easily would be a nice improvement, as phone-tag is a pretty terrible way to do it.
Some of my best friends have moved to different parts of the country. And because of the distance, we simply talk less. But whenever we do meet up, it's like they never left.
Just because I don't talk to someone on a weekly basis doesn't mean I wouldn't want to meet up if it were convenient.
I can see both sides of this coin. On the one hand, the positive use case is actually pretty helpful -- I _would_ like to know if I'm at a bar and, for example, some friends are in the back that I might have otherwise missed.
But on the flipside, this has the potential to turn a lot of social situations slightly sticky -- I immediately think back to a friend's "worst date ever" story where she was asked out by a guy who later cancelled because "work stuff came up". And then she ran into him, drunk, with his buddies, at the same bar.
At least before FB he could have hidden under a table! ;)
It might be interesting if they could add some kind of geofencing feature to it. So you could have it automatically be enabled when you're hanging out at the bar you go to when you want to see friends, but be disabled otherwise. It's good that they let you turn it on and off whenever you want, but having to do so manually seems like a chore that will cause me to just leave it off all the time.
Geolocation features aside, I'm more impressed by the fact that Facebook has created something that's opt-in rather than volunteering people right off the bat.
I created a similar service a while back at http://www.nearbyfriends.com. Here is a video describing the launch: http://vimeo.com/15039067. I later added proximity alerts so you could see when your Facebook friends check in near you. Funny to see Facebook launch a similar "Nearby Friends" three years later.
I live in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, about 30 miles from the center. I have a local group of friends that I get together with on a weekly basis. But this feature seems like it might help me see my city-based friends on a more regular basis. Times that I drive into the city, or fly to other metro areas for conferences and meetings, I'd love to know if I have FB friends nearby to meet up with.
What about automatically chatting with ANYONE nearby you that is using the app and "available" for chat?
I think this will be a good idea.
Imagine you in traffic, and launch the app to chat with the driver in the car side yours...
The same could works when you go to party and don't try to find somebody "available" there....
It's basically nearby anyone, with the connection being a location instead of a phone number, email, username, etc... They have done a good job at keeping the content focused on useful information, rather than dick pics.
The downside is it really only has a strong user-base in Chicago.
The problem I see with this at large events such as rock concerts is the speed messages come in with. In just small group chats of 5 or 6 friends sometimes everyone sends so many messages that I can't keep up. What happens at a rock concert when you have hundreds of messages coming in? Will people even read them or take the time to scroll up to see past comments? At that point it basically becomes impossible to carry on conversations.
The problem with this type of integration in such a widespread app is that it can become problematic to explain to someone, like a significant other, why you would have a need to not share your location with them. It can be difficult to counter the "what do you have to hide" line of reasoning.
[+] [-] bronbron|12 years ago|reply
I'm sure everyone has told a "white lie" at some point (e.g. "Sorry, I can't really hang out tonight because I'm not feeling well" == "I want to go see a movie by myself"), and anything that might hinder your ability to do that is likely to be disabled permanently the first time it causes an issue (or even in anticipation of it causing an issue).
[+] [-] debt|12 years ago|reply
It eventually just went away. I wonder why they got rid of that, but now are doing something like this.
[+] [-] mmxiii|12 years ago|reply
This breed of product is based on the idea that location = event. If someone is at a location, that means something is going on. But it ignores massive implicit social constructs: 1. Facebook friends are not real friends (Circles is slightly better but classification is onerous), 2. Someone you don't know well is unlikely to share their location to you, and less likely to agree to hang out based on location, in contrast someone you do know well, you will easily be aware of their location and availability.
The reality is that this product captures one piece of information - where is my friend right now. But on any serious reflection, you should be able to discern that this piece of information is incredibly secondary to the nature of the actual relationship when determining whether or not to hang out.
[+] [-] npizzolato|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kytmizuno|12 years ago|reply
Just because I don't talk to someone on a weekly basis doesn't mean I wouldn't want to meet up if it were convenient.
[+] [-] nlh|12 years ago|reply
But on the flipside, this has the potential to turn a lot of social situations slightly sticky -- I immediately think back to a friend's "worst date ever" story where she was asked out by a guy who later cancelled because "work stuff came up". And then she ran into him, drunk, with his buddies, at the same bar.
At least before FB he could have hidden under a table! ;)
[+] [-] zippergz|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Hovertruck|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hanley|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SubZero|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] gonehome|12 years ago|reply
I thought it was neat to be out at some family event or the mall etc. and get notices that your friends were nearby.
[+] [-] RossM|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bbrian|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] matthodan|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] obiefernandez|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dougcorrea|12 years ago|reply
I think this will be a good idea.
Imagine you in traffic, and launch the app to chat with the driver in the car side yours... The same could works when you go to party and don't try to find somebody "available" there....
This, for Facebook, should be easy, right?
[+] [-] rosem|12 years ago|reply
It's basically nearby anyone, with the connection being a location instead of a phone number, email, username, etc... They have done a good job at keeping the content focused on useful information, rather than dick pics.
The downside is it really only has a strong user-base in Chicago.
[+] [-] tvanzyl|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] scrame|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] matznerd|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xiata|12 years ago|reply
Due to Facebook's usage, I think this will take off. No need to convince friends unsuccessfully to install another app.
[+] [-] ecesena|12 years ago|reply
[1] http://www.glancee.com
[+] [-] ausjke|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pain_perdu|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] huhtenberg|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sebastianavina|12 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] chatman|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] suyash|12 years ago|reply