19
Aug
Facebook is going Places
Yesterday Facebook called a press event at their headquarters in
Palo Alto, California. With many rumours flying around the
internet, the most prominent was that
Facebook is going to include a location feature – and how
right they were.
Facebook Places is now available in the US and will be available
to the rest of the world ‘as soon as it can’.
This feature is only available to Facebook members that has an
iPhone app (Android and Blackberry tba) or via the Facebook touch
mobile site.
Similar to
Foursquare, Places allows people to add places, check in places
and ‘tag’ Facebook friends who are in the same
location.
A clear issue is security. Facebook has been plagued by stories
in the main stream media and could possibly be the number one
concern of Facebook users in the UK. This was quickly addressed by
CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that Facebook Places is purely about
finding and sharing places with your friends, not the world.
Facebook Places doesn’t just apply to users, Estate Agents
and business users can also use the feature to their advantage.
Estate Agents can claim their office as a location and then
associate it to their Estate Agent Facebook page. To do this,
Estate Agents must certify that they are the official
representative.
In other news, which is going to be shadowed by Paces, a rogue
app is circulating around Facebook users. This fake
‘dislike’ button automatically posts a message
encouraging the user’s friends to add the app and then ask to
take a survey which generates revenue for the creators.
Troy
Stanley, CTO of Resource Techniques comments on the rogue
Facebook app, ‘Estate Agents must always be careful which
apps you add to their Facebook profile.
‘If you feel that you have fallen victim to a rogue app,
go to Account and then Application settings. From here Estate
Agents can remove any applications from their profile.
‘Just to be 100% sure, Estate Agents can then also change
their password so that only they have access to their
account’ – Troy Stanley.
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