Hasta La Gadget!

Facebook has quietly pulled its contentious Find Friends Nearby feature, though the social network refuses to confirm that the decision was in response to concerns about the swiftly-dubbed “stalker tool.” Instead, the site claims that Find Friends Nearby was never intended for widespread public use anyway, and that taking it down is a regular part of its own internal testing.

Quietly launched on Sunday, Find Friends Nearby used GPS and other location tools to flag up which of your Facebook friends were physically proximate. These could be broken down into groups – such as work colleagues or old school friends – and included anyone who had the Find Friends Nearby page open on their mobile device.

However, it also raised the hackles of privacy watchdogs, with fears that it might open users up to inadvertent tracking. On the flip side, advertisers had apparently already begun salivating over the possibilities for specifically targeting commercial content to nearby Facebookers.

“This wasn’t a formal release — this was just something that a few engineers were testing” a Facebook spokesperson told Wired. “With all tests, some get released as full products, others don’t. Nothing more to say on this for now, but we’ll communicate to everyone when there is something to say.”

Facebook yanks controversial Find Friends Nearby is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Facebook has a new feature that iOS and Android users can now start to take advantage of called Find Friends Nearby. Originally dubbed “Friendshake”, the feature allows you to see friends who are nearby, as well as potential friends, provided they’re also using Find Friends Nearby. The new feature is primarily aimed at those meeting people for the first time who want to quickly add details to Facebook.

Ryan Patterson, an engineer for Facebook, designed the app at a hackathon event to easily exchange contact information. Rather than hunting for specific names, which can result in finding the wrong people or entering typos, Find Friends Nearby allows both users to log into and see each others details easily and quickly.

The feature has bigger implications too. Rather than just finding people in the immediate area, Facebook could add additional features that that allow you to find people with similar interests, or maybe find friends of friends. Highlight is an app launched at SXSW that has the same functionality already, but Facebook integrating the same features would help command a much larger audience.

There’s two ways to use the new feature. The first is by going to a mobile webpage found at http://fb.com/ffn, and the second is by digging through the iOS and Android app menus. Users need to go to Menu -> Apps -> Find Friends -> Other Tools, then tap on Find Friends Nearby.

[via TechCrunch]

Facebook adds Find Friends Nearby to mobile apps is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.