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vangogh
08-21-2010, 12:19 AM
Some of you may have seen that Facebook now has something called Places. Basically it's a way for you to check in to a specific place and let your friends know you're there. Some may like the services and others may not.

The default settings are for your friends to see when you "check in" to various places. Not a big deal unless you choose friends poorly. However defaults are also set to allow friends to check you in to places (whether you're actually there or not) and to allow applications your friends use to share data about you.

For those of you who prefer not to have your physical location shared this article from Lifehacker shows you how to disable Facebook places (http://lifehacker.com/5616395/how-to-disable-facebook-places) or at least make the settings a bit more private.

Just out of curiosity how many like the idea of sharing your physical location? Facebook is hardly the only site/application doing this. It's something many companies want to know and expect to make money from in the years ahead.

Personally I have no interest in sharing that information. If I want you to know where I am, I'll tell you I'm heading there before I go. If I don't tell you then I probably don't want you to know where I am. I know a lot of people like being able to share this kind of information and I can understand their reasons so I'm not knocking anyone for liking this kind of service. More curious if you do and why.

Spider
08-21-2010, 10:12 AM
Well, that was pretty easy. Thanks for posting. I didn't find the default settings particularly obnoxious but I did tighten my settingsd just a little.

I thought the "Places" app would be useful for the young and frivolous and for 'road warrior' business types. When I go to places, I usually want to be alone or with the people I went with, so I have no use for it.

However, I saw many times the term 'when you check in' - to "the places" I presume. How does one "check in" to a place? And if you don't want to be seen there in Facebook, can't you just not check in? If it is GPS generated (and I saw no indication that it was) you would still have to turn on your computer, wouldn't you. So, don't turn on your computer or disable the GPS doo-dad.

All such a waste of time!

vangogh
08-21-2010, 10:34 PM
Yeah it was pretty easy to tighten the settings. I guess this is really more for mobile use. Say you're at a bar or a restaurant you use a Facebook app or visit the site in your phone's browser and "check in" to wherever you are so your friends could join you. I know lots of people think that's a great thing. A phone call to invite the people you want to meet you has always worked well enough for me.

I'm not sure exactly how you "check in." Facebook is connected to a couple of services and I think you might "check in" through those services. Then Facebook would get an alert and post where you are.

The parts I didn't like about the settings were that your friends could check you in to places, especially when you consider that Facebook's definition of friend is not the same as mine. Friends could check you in to places even if you weren't there so the example of someone playing a practical joke and saying you were in a strip bar or something is one I'd seen mentioned.

I also didn't care for the idea that applications friends were running could have access to the data. Seems like there's no reason to ever share that much.

mattbeck
08-22-2010, 03:37 PM
I use foursquare, which I like for certain things, but I already disabled most of the places stuff.

I really don't like the way FB keeps trying to hand over control of that stuff. It's one thing if I decide to check myself in someplace, but when friends (or especially apps) can do it that's a problem.

Location apps are really only useful in certain situations. Foursquare is great at big conventions like SXSW, because you have a lot of people trying to find each other in the same city. In my daily life it's a lot less useful.

vangogh
08-23-2010, 12:52 AM
I can see how Foursquare would be useful at a convention like SXSW. That makes sense to me. Outside of things like that I have a hard time understanding why people like them. Again what's wrong with calling those people you want to join you and telling them where you'll be. I think some people like location apps because maybe they happen to be out somewhere and discover a friend is also in the area and they can call each other and meet up, where they never would have thought to call each other without the app. Guess that's nit such a big deal to me.

With FB letting friends and apps have that much control is not a good idea. Those are what I most wanted to turn off.

Paper Shredder Clay
08-24-2010, 11:55 AM
I use FourSquare, Gowalla and Facebook's Places. I don't know why, I guess cause I'm bored sometimes. I usually post what I am eating there, so at least, I'll know whats good or bad there.

vangogh
08-24-2010, 12:48 PM
Out of curiosity what do those services offer you? You said you don't know why you use them, but I assume there's some reason or something that attracted you to them. I'm not suggesting everyone should feel like I do, but I don't want people knowing where I am or even being able to find out where I am all the time.

KristineS
08-25-2010, 02:46 PM
I don't understand why people like these sorts of apps. I know some people who love Foursquare. Quite frankly, I'm not wild about anything that allows people to know where I am if I don't personally tell them. I also am not terribly interested in where other people are at any given time. I don't need to know when you go for a latte or a workout. If I care where you are at any given time, I'll ask. If I don't ask, I don't care.

I think part of the theory behind these types of apps is that if a certain location is listed on a lot of people's profiles, then other people will decide to go check it out. It may work that way, but it doesn't interest me.