What Is the Check-in Feature on Facebook?
Facebook provides many social network tools that allow members to locate and keep in touch with their friends. Some of these online tools, such as “Friend Finder,” are more obvious than others because of their prominent display after logging in to Facebook. Other tools aren’t quite so visible at first, but they can be both valuable and entertaining once they are discovered. Facebook Places is an example of one of the less-visible tools and is responsible for the “check-in” posts that many members see in their Facebook News Feeds.
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Places and Check-In
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The "check-in" postings from friends on Facebook that appear in the News Feed are generated with Facebook's Places feature. Facebook Places provides members using one of the Facebook mobile apps -- such as Facebook for Android, Facebook for iPhone or Facebook for Blackberry -- with a way to share where they are and what they're doing. The mobile application will use the smartphone's GPS feature to try to determine where it is and display a list of nearby "places" the application is already aware of. If the current "place" (business, park, library, concert venue, etc.) is not displayed, a new "place" can be added.
Social Activity
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Like most features of Facebook, the social aspect of the Places feature is a primary reason to use it. When a person checks in with Places, she is telling her friends where she is and, in many cases, what she is doing. She might be at a concert, visiting a local pub or walking her dog in the park. This is an easy way for faraway friends to see what that person is doing at that moment. It's also a great way for nearby friends to connect when they happen to be just down the street, or in some cases, at the same place.
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Local Deals
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The check-in feature of Facebook Places can also reveal local deals when a person checks in at a participating business. There are currently four types of deals available in Places -- individual, friend, loyalty and charity. When available, Friend Deals can be earned by tagging a certain number of friends to share the savings. Loyalty Deals require a certain number of check-ins at the participating business. Donation and Individual Deals vary between businesses.
Security Concerns
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An obvious concern of the Places check-in feature is that it's an announcement of a person's current location to all Facebook friends. A person with specific concerns about her personal security should not use this feature. Security settings specific to Places can be configured through the usual Facebook account security settings. Anyone who is concerned with others knowing where she is should put careful consideration into this service before using it.
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References
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