91Èȱ¬

"Quick Rory's out of the house! Somebody break in!"

mmmm I can see the applications of this are quite wide.

There's an add-on for Firefox (Geolocater) which allows you to set your location to wherever you want. If you then use the touch.facebook.com site you can pretty much log in wherever you want.

Now the only problem is which glamorous location to say I'm at today!

Interestingly, if there's a massive distance between check-in points that you couldn't possibly have covered, FB won't let you log a new check-in.

I like the idea of being able check in to places, but mainly for my own interest & occasionally to see who's near by.

I've been using Foursquare, before that Brightkite and Yahoo!'s fire eagle service for a couple of years. I think Facebook's arrival on the scene could be very good, but there is already a problem with it.

Here's a quote from one of my friends on facebook: "it's been live for only a few hours but is anyone else already tired of Places?! 'I'm in W H Smiths' - so *?!*?! what?!?" As far as I can see there's no way of using Places to check in but not post that information to friends' news feed. I like the idea of being able to check in on facebook and look to see where freinds are, but I don't want to see when ever someone checks in in my news feed.

Looks like it is limited to the old iPhone.

Despite being offered the chance to use Places on my N97 Smartphone via touch.facebook.com, it doesn't work.

Well, it's obviously a good news that UK users are now able to share their location with their facebook friends. But is it safe at all? Nope; unless they are sure that there is no burglar/stranger (kinda same you know) on their friends' list, I don't think they should disclose their global location on Facebook.

See this for example:

Good Luck with UK Facebook Place users.

In Post 2, Nick P wrote:

• There's an add-on for Firefox (Geolocater) which allows you to set your location to wherever you want.

So potentially useful for those using desktop PCs, which (surprisingly enough) generally don't have GPS receivers attached (well, why would they?!)

But I would assume the majority of people using FB log into it from either work or home. Hardly exciting locations to broadcast.

Now Twitter, on the other hand, which was pretty much designed from the ground up to be used to send short messages 'on the go', would seem a much more likely tool to optionally / occasionally let your followers know which random bit of the world you were sending messages from.

Woe betide anyone who dismisses a new tech service - i have repeatedly only later feeling obliged to backpedal furiously when I find myself embracing that new service at a later date.

That said, at this moment in time Im reluctant to go headlong into revealing my exact location with all of my friends online. I enjoy connecting with a wide group of friends online but a few years on I feel as though Ive reached my limit. And, being younger than you I hope to God it's not a sign of old age. ;)

I have been keeping tabs on my Daughters location for about 2 years now with Google Latitude. Not only that but I can view a history of locations from the apps menu.

And I have a Samsung on Android and my daughter has a Nokia 5800 on Symbian S60

Wont be advertising it via facebook though. One more massive security hole in the plans for that horrible site.

Absolutely appalling application. What are Facebook thinking of, this only goes to show safety, especially that of children, is of absolutly no concern to them. This isn't social networking its social engineering for the child molesters out there. Get a grip Facebook

Yet again you demonstrate that only idiots use Facebook!

This is not really news - it has always been the case that any sentient being who chooses to give away personal details to everybody and sundry will get what the deserve and they can't complain about it (or indeed I suspect insure against it?)

There is a thought: if I was writing home insurance theft terms and conditions I would include a clause to the effect that to be able to claim for loss or damage whilst the property was unoccupied that the policy holder should have taken all reasonable precautions not to inform anyone of the fact that the home was empty.

As I stated at the beginning, there is no excuse for advertising where you are and anyone who does it is a fool.

Personally, I'll be using this - I have a few friends who travel across the UK on a regular basis and knowing that they're somewhere near me will make it a lot easier to meet up.

In response to 'bigcappa', yep, this feature is open to abuse, but I'm getting rather annoyed with the whole 'Wait...think of the children' attitude when it comes to any new technology.

Sorry - but if you're a parent, it's your job to keep a close eye on how your kids are using technology (in the same way as it's your job to stop them playing with matches). I appreciate it's not easy, but that's parenting.

If we banned every innovation that could be used for ill, we'd still be trying to figure out the wheel.....

every local business within a few hundred yards popped up when I was "checking in" ...

I can imagine that could soon get very tedious - I can imagine plenty of people opting out of that functionality!

Been using Foursquare for a while and it can be useful.

Not really surprised that Facebook has picked up on it, bit like Microsoft discovering Netscape!!

My thought is 'Just because you can do something does not mean that it's a good idea to do it'

"Despite being offered the chance to use Places on my N97 Smartphone via touch.facebook.com, it doesn't work."

Hmmmmmmm, says more about your outdated N97 than any other phone.

The average burglar already knows where you are: most often, out at work during the day, which is when many burglaries are committed. I think the security implications of this are really quite insignificant: however, being bombarded with ads for local businesses, when I just want to check something else, is bound to get extremely irritating. I'll give it a try, but I very much doubt I'll find this app useful, and certainly not useful enough to use it on a regular basis.

I'm getting a bit tired with the Facebook/privacy digs. Facebook fell over on privacy, they have fixed it. If someone burgles your home because you were out at the pub and didn't bother to lock up your privacy settings then be it on your own head.

As for Places, I can see a limited application for this. I won't be checking in every 5min but I have a varied group of friends who often meet up in central London, so going into the West End, checking in and seeing who's about could be a great way to get a Saturday night going.

I foolishly checked in immediately while at home, and my address was therefore suddenly visible to all of my friends (complete with the ability to "Get directions"). There was a warning about visibility, but what wasn't noted was that it can't be undone.

I've never bought into the Facebook privacy issues before (it's not difficult to set it up, for me), but I should be able to remove my own address from the site. Their FAQ notes, however, that it's not possible at present. I wonder if I'm coming up amongst the local businesses now, too. It's a concern.

That said, it's a great tool - It's just a shame that I lack internet connectivity on my phone, although my iPod Touch works with it when I have a wi-fi connection.

The privacy problem I have with Facebook, is not the idea of rogue citizens getting at my location information, but Facebook's own Cavalier attitude to sharing this data with anyone it can find to help 'monetise' its otherwise profitless operation. You give Facebook your data, one day, and the next, you find they've sold it to Lovefilm; to Tescos; to News International; to Subways... Their terms and Conditions, allow them to change their Terms and Conditions, at any time, and you either agree to play with the new goalposts, or you opt out altogether.

From one month to the next you find yourself the consumer of a product you never originally signed up for - for a bunch of companies you didn't even gave the information to in the first place. Now Facebook will no doubt assure its users that every retailer in the UK being able to pinpoint exactly where you are, will allow them to offer you a 'unique, personalised service':

"It's 8AM, 91Èȱ¬ weather says it's minus four, where you are and you're in your car! Would you like some deicer? Halfords is just down the road... Or maybe some breakfast? McDonnalds has a great 2-for-1 offer: would you like me to give you directions? It looks like you're driving to work: Would you like me to help? Morrison's petrol is open: you still have time to fill up! Your place of work suggests that you might be employed in finance: have you ever considered life insurance? Hello, it looks like you haven't moved, for three days: are you dead? Cooperative Funerals is just nearby and has a great deal on at the moment? Shall we inform your relatives?"