Popular social networking site, Facebook has launched its new feature allowing its users to share their location with their contacts.
The feature called Places will integrate with other location tools and will allow users to find their friends by disclosing their location on the social networking sites. Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg expressed that ‘Places’ works with existing location-aware tools offered by Foursquare along with Gowalla Inc.
The company can generate good amount of ad revenues from the feature by allowing marketers to target customers on the basis of their location. Zuckerberg has already indicated that Facebook will add ad component to ‘places’.
Experts say that introducing a location based feature was the obvious step for the site as it aims to become the most popular hub of social activity. This is in line with the company strategy to add component and generate more revenues as it provides free service to more than half a billion active users on the site.
The entry of Facebook in the location based services will not make other services like Foursquare to close down but will increase the pressure to perform better and offer enhanced services.
One in four Facebook users accesses the site from mobile devices and thus could be target for the feature. Marketers could place ads when the customer is near the shops. Facebook will also make ‘places’ compatible with Yelp Inc and make it available on Apple devices.
There are some concerns over the privacy by disclosing user’s location on the site. To address those, Facebook has said that ‘Places will include comprehensive privacy controls.’
Facebook vice president of product Christopher Cox said, "The entire goal of this product, and in general what we're trying to develop here, is that the 'third place' is alive and well and that technology can actually be the thing that pulls us away from the TV and out to the nightclub or out to the concert or out to the theater or out to the bar,"
"Technology does not need to estrange us from one another," he added.
