Facebook Launches ‘Nearby Friends’ Location Feature

The social network on Thursday announced Nearby Friends, a new feature built into Facebook’s mobile app that allows you to see which of your friends are close by, and even share your exact location with others. The new feature uses the geolocation technology in your smart phone to determine when you are close to one of your Facebook friends. When activated, the feature will send periodic notifications alerting you to friends who are nearby. Users have been able to check in on Facebook for some time, meaning you can already share your location as part of a post, but Nearby Friends allows you to broadcast your general location to Facebook friends without posting at all.