Right when you feel that Facebook just can’t get anymore better, it pulls a completely new trick.
Facebook recently announced a new mobile app feature that can help you trace your friends. This feature is already being criticized by many for being highly intrusive. However, some of the Facebook fans are actually celebrating the move and they hail it as another step in the direction of bringing people closer to each other.
What Does the Feature Do?
This new mobile feature is known as ‘Nearby Friends’. When you tap the feature, it will locate all your friends who are within a specified distance of you, so if you want to catch up for coffee, you know who to call. This feature taps into location information of your friends’ phones so that you always know where they are. As friends will now be able to track each other in real time, they will be able to make more realistic plans with each other, or avoid the ones they do not want to see. The basic idea behind the update is to allow people to meet each other in real life.
How Does the Feature Help?
A increasing criticism of social networking websites is that they discourage real human interactions and people spend much more time creating online lives than they do in their real lives, with real human contact. The aim of this feature is to replace the ‘likes’ on your Facebook profiles and comment threats with real live interaction, handshakes, hugs and eye contacts. If you have a lot of people on your Facebook that you have never met in your real life, this is your opportunity to meet with them and catch a cup of coffee or watch a movie.
Is there a Downside?
Detractors of Facebook are already claiming this to be one of the biggest intrusions into the privacy of a user. Facebook, which is famous for negating privacy issues, is not at the cusp of another controversy. In light of the recent crimes that have been committed using Facebook, this move to enable friends to locate you in real time, could lead to a lot more problems than many could envisage. Fortunately, the Nearby Friends feature can be controlled by you. Users will have to turn this feature on, for Facebook to tap into their location data. Only when this feature is turned on, can you really get in touch with your Facebook friends. The feature is not turned on by default and you may choose to turn it on or not. Therefore, this live tracking can actually be useful in tracking lost friends and colleagues, who you may not have met in a long time.
How can this be Made Safe?
Facebook offers you the option to make lists of your Facebook friends. You can choose to create a list of close friends and family, and then opt to have only these friends track you. If used correctly, this can actually increase your safety, as your friends and family members can now safely track you. Facebook has really learned from its past mistakes and this brand new feature is not as invasive as it could have been had the right privacy features not been installed.
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