The German Facebook community can as of today use the new location-based feature Places. With this, people can let their friends know where they are and find out if anyone else is coincidentally in the area.
It’s not very often that localization servers, like Places on Facebook, get so much hype. Speculators expect this new service to be the end of Foursquare, Gowalla & Co. But it is always possible that Facebook’s new feature will be a big flop and won’t be as sexy as the competition.
One thing is for certain: since Places’ launch in the US a few weeks ago, Foursquare has been in a hectic hustle to make some changes. Another thing is certain: so far, Places from Facebook has failed to prove that it has anything more to offer than any other of the check-in servers. Other than, of course, the fact that Facebook has countless users, many of whom will probably use the check-in service as opposed to going out of their way to check-in on Foursquare or Gowalla and then to stream their check-in onto Facebook.
What will be interesting to see is how Facebook will react to location spam. Foursquare announced the start of a major offensive against spam several months ago – the result of which has yet to be seen. Up until now, the so-called locations on Facebook Places are displayed cryptically. There probably won’t be any major improvements during the beginning of the user-wave, especially when the millions of Facebook users begin making their own current locations.
What will be important for Facebook users that don’t want their current location to be advertised: either don’t use Places at all, or correct the privacy settings accordingly. There, users can control whether friends, or even friends of friends can see your current location. And whoever has issues with the “Include Me in ‘People Here Now’” option, should turn it off immediately.
But before the big critique begins, enjoy trying out the new service (sorry Android users, you’ve got to keep waiting…)! And please tell us whether or not you like Facebook Places.