'Facebook will be new location king'

Facebook Places is the social networking site's first step into location-based services for people who own smartphones equipped with satellite position tracking capabilities. Members can "check-in" at restaurants, bars, or other social venues and let their friends at the social network instantly know where they are and with whom. The launch includes an application for iPhone handsets, and members with smartphones featuring web browser software supporting geo-location and HTML5 can use it at the mobile website touch.facebook.com. The feature is initially only available in the US and while the company will eventually roll it out worldwide to its 500 million users, a spokesman for Facebook UK said its release here was some months away. "If you are not in the US you can still see if friends are using it here but you will not be able to check-in," Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said at the launch event at the firm's headquarters in California. Facebook says privacy is a key feature of Places and users could control who they share location information with. The site has previously been criticised for failing to safeguard the information members post on their profiles. The commercial potential with Places is with users being able to declare wherever they are whenever they want, opening themselves up to offers, suggestions or advertisements about nearby businesses... Read more