Tech Report: Facebook Quickly Ditches 'Friends Nearby' Feature
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— Facebook has quickly done away with a feature that would've let you find friends who are nearby. The Silicon Valley social network-giant said it was only testing the service.
Called 'Friends Nearby', the service allowed users to contact others who weren't current friends but that were physically nearby. It could have actually been called 'Strangers Nearby,' for that matter.
For instance, if you were at a coffee shop and you were chatting with someone and then they left, but you didn't get their name, maybe you'd want to keep in touch. If they were logged on Facebook, you could use the feature to find them and you could get together later.
Part of the problem though is that there's another company that has an app called Friendthem that claims it has a very similar technology in which they've discussed with Facebook and has threatened legal action. But the truth is there are a number of apps out there with similar features and technology. There's nothing particularly unique about this concept.
KCBS' Tech Report:
By the way, all of the social discovery apps on Facebook are opt in. You have to run the app and sign in. But you do have to be aware that when you run these apps, people who don't know you have ways to find you.
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