Information Madness

Facebook recently unveiled a new location based service called Facebook Places. This new geo position service helps people to connect with each other on the move. In other words, this service organizes serendipitous meetings and coincidences between people.

For instance, you are walking down a block and your friend is walking a few blocks apart, now with Facebook Places you can know each other’s location and meet up in person.

The privacy settings of the Facebook Places service are simple to use. You simply have to go to Facebook Privacy -> Customize settings and set the “Places I Check In” option for friends, friends of friends or to everyone according to your preferences. If you do not want others to know your location then simply do not check in with Facebook Places or set the custom settings to “Only Me”.

If you are connected to a large group of friends and people on Facebook then you can arrange the settings so that only a selected group of people know your whereabouts. For this, first you have to go to Facebook Friends page and create a list of friends with whom you want to share your position. After this, go to your Facebook Privacy page and choose Custom and type in the friends list that you have prepared.

Facebook Places can be used via any cell phone that supports HTML5 and geolocation. However, Facebook Places is currently only available in the US.