Track Your Friends using Facebook Nearby Feature

 

Mobile phone is an inevitable part of our lives today and follows us everywhere like our shadow. So, we can say that our mobile knows where we are and now our Facebook friends can also find out where we are through your phone.

Yes, you heard it correct! Facebook is introducing an interesting feature which is called “Nearby Friends” that can give your real-time location info to people in friend-list. You may like it or maybe not but to know what exactly this service is and what are its cons/pros, lets read further.

Search nearby friends on Facebook aims at making people have a real-meet that replaces the Likes and LOLs on post through visual communication and rejoice. This feature is available for Android and iPhone mobile phones that allow users to track GPS location of nearby friends.

It’s WHO, WHAT, and now WHERE with Facebook!

Okay, let’s break down the mystery! This is an optional service which is supposed to be enabled by the user and is deactivated by default. Some of you must be relaxed now; of course privacy is surely an important factor. Your friends won’t be able to track your location until you allow them to do so by turning on this feature.

Here is something more to make you smile! It’s completely up to you with whom your location should be shared, for example: friends, close friends, or a customized list of some very special friends. Then to make privacy factor more rigid, this feature will be utilized only when friends nearby option is enabled at both the ends and both the users have permitted each other to track their location.

 How to Activate and Use Nearby-Friends Feature in Facebook? 

1. Open your Facebook Mobile App and then go to “More” tab at the bottom to turn-on nearby friends option. As I said earlier this feature is optional which means it has to be manually activated. When this option is turn-on, a tutorial illustrating usage of the feature will be provided.
2. Then you have option to select group of friends with whom you are comfortable sharing your location. Meanwhile, it has to be noted that location cannot be shared with friends of friends or publically, It can only be shared with friends or with people you have added to a customized group like close friends, family etc.
3. Once Facebook finds any friend nearby, it will send a notification regarding the same (for offline notifications, ensure that “Push Notifications” is enabled). Now, you can send a message to the friend if you wish to but you won’t be provided with precise location of the friend.The app will show location 0.5 miles, 0.7 miles, 1.8 miles away from exact location. For example: you might be notified that a friend is 2 miles away but the accurate location won’t be shared.
4. However, if you wish to provide your exact location to a friend at a particular point of time, it’s completely in your hands (also a message of around 40 characters can be sent to the friend). This might help the other person to find you easily when you have to meet at crowded place, lunch etc.

 How to Turn-Off Friends Nearby on Facebook?

As discussed above, by default this option is deactivated in the application. If you have activated it and now wish to de-activate it, then click on the “gear-button” at top-right side and then click the slider to “Turn-off” the Friends-nearby option.

Facebook will also be tracking your location and adds it to “Location History” that will be located in “Activity Log” of your profile. If you don’t want the app to track your location and show it to others, then you can turn-off Location History option (nearby-friends option cannot be used without activating it).

Can’t See Friends Nearby on Facebook

The Facebook Nearby facility is available only for Android and iOS mobile phones.

You cannot use this option on your laptops or personal computers as location is tracked through GPS of mobile.

 With whom I can Share Proximity?

Only people in friend list can check out your location. Another twist is you have the power to decide with whom the location can be shared.

So, Is it Good or Bad? 

Pros:

• Facebook is very clear with its aim behind proving this interesting feature to make people have a real-meet.
• The privacy settings are quite helpful so that you can decide who can view your location on Android/iOS Facebook app.
• By default, this option is disabled. So you don’t have to be concerned about it if there is no interest of using this service.

Cons:

• When Facebook tracks your location history, it uses it for advertising. It is also an advertising technique for company’s profit.
• If privacy settings are not managed properly, this can lead to mis-usage of the feature as there is risk of stalking.

Conclusion:

The feature is quite interesting and could be a great help to have an unanticipated meet, get along with people who are nearby. But on the other hand it could breach privacy of users (say a friend tracks your nearby location and invites you for coffee but you not have time for it). Sometimes a planned meet is better than an unwanted or unexpected foregather. But since the service is optional, everything is up to you!