What journalists should know about Facebook Places
Facebook has gone geo. It’s sort of the next big thing on the internet. That means that anybody with a Facebook account in the U.S. has the ability to check-in from Starbucks.
We can thank Foursquare’s vision for the Facebook rip-off. On this site, though, I’ve dedicated my free time to finding ways for journalists to do stuff with stuff.
With that, I bring to you a few things journalists should know about Facebook Places. Let’s look at some pictures of the places function inside the iPhone app. Again, this feature is available to U.S. users only and only works through the iPhone app or any mobile device that can access the Facebook touch website. Who wants pictures?
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- The app will keep a running feed of where friends are checking in. None had for me yet.
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- I was driving by this fine eatery.
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- It will show all the nearby locations, just as all the check-in services do.
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- People can fix any bad info they find in the locations. This could be useful for business owners.
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- Nothing to see here. Just a message that my region wasn’t part of the fun yet.
As you can see, Facebook Places has all the standard features you’d expect for a check-in service. Well, it doesn’t have badges or a very good desktop presentation. But everything else is there.
What about privacy?
You can disable anything you want in your Facebook account. That includes letting friends tag you when they check-in somewhere. Allowing that means friends can say you were with them at a strip club or something. Were you?
Want to disable that? No worries. Here is a video I did showing you how. Hit the play button in the bottom left corner. The one on the video screen will take you to a scary place.
What good is Facebook Places for journalists?
Finally, a question worth answering. So we struggle with finding sources through the various social media sites, right? They can be a blessing when you need to find somebody who knew someone or who saw something. When it works, it’s a magical thing that often ends up in internal memos about finding sources with social media.
When it fails, well, it gives you something to say you tried.
Facebook’s check-in feature brings with it tons of journalistic potential, assuming a few things are allowed. I’m sad to say they are not. What do I mean?
Here is a video of that very thing. It’s my demo of how Facebook could help journalists in need.
I’m not saying that Facebook is done adding to the service. I actually think they just acquired a third-party company that should help. I’m just saying maybe journalists shouldn’t rush to replace services that are doing this in a much better and efficient way.
Let me know what you think. I’m lonely.
I'm me. You are you. It's a pretty cool deal. 
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