Un-Trusted.Net

I’ve seen the following information posted on Facebook by a few of my friends:

• “Facebook launched Facebook Places yesterday. Anyone can find out where you are when you are logged in. It gives the actual address & map location of where you are as you use Facebook. Make sure your kids know! Go to”Account”,”Account Settings”, …..”Notifications”, then scroll down ……to ……”Places” and …un-check the 2 boxes. Make sure to SAVE changes and re-post this!!”

That post is actually not remotely accurate, and I’ve written this post to hopefully help dispel these myths.

Facebook Places allows you to share your location if you’re using a mobile device that supports it, and if you choose to do so, and only with those you choose to share it with (Friends Only, Friends of Friends, Everyone, or Custom, it’s entirely up to you). You have to deliberately perform a “check-in” on a location-aware device in order for you to share your location with anyone, and by default you would be sharing this with Friends Only.

It also includes a feature that allows your friends to share your location with others. The default setting allows your friends to check in somewhere (i.e. share their location) and also “tag” you at that location (i.e. say that you are there with them). This is the default behavior that many people understandably have an issue with. But, it’s very easy to disable this capability entirely in your privacy settings, and it’s very easy for you to remove the tag if someone has done this before you disable it (not to mention the fact that you would also be free to un-friend someone who did this to you in a manner that you found offensive).

Changing your notification settings for Places (as the above post recommends) is not a good idea, because then you won’t get a notification if someone has tagged you somewhere. What you need to do is adjust your Privacy settings for Facebook Places according to your preference.

If you decide that you want to share your location with your friends, you can also choose whether that information is or is not available to applications your friends choose to use.

There’s a very good Lifehacker article on adjusting your Facebook Places settings, and there is also a lot of good information in the Facebook Places FAQ.