PDA

View Full Version : Facebook Unveils Location Service



MNeagle
19th August 2010, 10:00 AM
Facebook Inc. unveiled a new way for users to share their physical locations online, extending the social-networking giant's reach into the real world even as it opens itself to new potential concerns about privacy.

While Facebook stopped short of announcing how it would make money off its location services, the move paves the way for the company to become a major player in the growing business to supply local information and advertising, rivaling efforts by Google Inc. and others.

The new service, called Places, allows Facebook users to tap the location-sensing capabilities of their mobile phones to "check in" to a business or address and then instantly share it with their Facebook connections. The optional service will also allow users to find other people who have also recently logged their presence physically nearby.


Places will "help people stay connected everywhere they go, not just at their computer," said Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg at an event at the company's Palo Alto, Calif., headquarters.


While location-based mobile-app companies such as Foursquare Labs Inc. have drawn attention from early adopters and investors, Facebook's entry into the market could help make the idea of sharing one's location with friends and businesses become mainstream. The company already has 150 million users of its service on mobile phones, although the Places service will initially only be available on an app for Apple Inc.'s iPhone and through an enhanced mobile website.

Still, adding location information to the data that Facebook collects and mines about its 500 million users could open the company to new criticism from privacy advocates and regulators. Facebook executives said they built in privacy controls to protect sensitive location information, such as limiting the default visibility of check-ins to friends only.

But Nicole Ozer, the technology and civil-liberties policy director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, said it left out some other important privacy safeguards. "Facebook is rolling out 'here now,' privacy later," she said, noting that the company makes it easy to let strangers know your current location but gives limited ability to control exactly who knows that you are at a place. If a user's "here now" feature is turned on, he or she is visible to any user in that place.


"It's nearly impossible to launch any new social feature without some level of privacy concern, and it remains to be seen whether users will like or dislike the fact that they can be checked in by their friends," said Augie Ray, a social-networking analyst with Forrester Research. Facebook said it intended that service as an advantage, since not all of its users have one of the smartphones that are required to use the service. Users can also turn off the ability for their friends to check them in—but it is permitted by default.

In May, Facebook changed its privacy controls following a torrent of criticism. The Federal Trade Commission has said it is continuing to look into social networks and plans to issue new guidelines later this year for how they handle privacy. In late July, the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing about online privacy that included testimony from Facebook, Google and other technology companies.

Mr. Zuckerberg played down the immediate implications of the new service for Facebook's core revenue stream of selling advertising. "You can imagine all of these things in the future," he said, but added that the company wanted to focus first on creating a service that would be useful for the social lives of users.

Still, analysts said the location service could eventually open considerable new business opportunities for Facebook, including location-targeted advertising. Facebook could also tap business opportunities by setting up sponsorships and special deals with local businesses. Even with the initial launch, local businesses will be able to claim the Facebook page for their own location as a business page.


"There are such tremendous opportunities for marketers with Places, I think, sooner rather than later we are going to see advertisers incorporated into it," said Debra Aho Williamson, a senior analyst at eMarketer

Those sorts of business uses could eventually compete with Google, which has been building out its maps and local information and advertising business. In the mobile market, Google hopes to become a platform for mobile check-in services by offering its database of information about millions of local businesses and other places around the world.

For the existing generation of location-based Internet services, Facebook extended an olive branch by opening the location data that it collects to third parties. Appearing at Facebook's announcement, some initial partners, including Foursquare and Gowalla, said they thought Facebook would be an enabler—not a competitor—by introducing a lot of new users to the world of sharing their locations.

link (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703649004575438243433457782.html?m od=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection)

Silver Rocket Bitches!
19th August 2010, 01:45 PM
http://www.tsm.net.au/images/monitor.jpg

Nothing to see here.

DMac
19th August 2010, 02:05 PM
http://www.tsm.net.au/images/monitor.jpg

Nothing to see here.


Nope, move along.

http://clayjeffreys.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/eye-of-sauron.jpg

Saul Mine
19th August 2010, 02:37 PM
If Facebook has 500 million people who want to be connected all the time, how come it's so hard to find one that might be worth spending an afternoon with?

Gaillo
19th August 2010, 04:16 PM
If Facebook has 500 million people who want to be connected all the time, how come it's so hard to find one that might be worth spending an afternoon with?


Just guessing... Maybe it's because Facebook is full of... Facebook users? ;D

Phoenix
19th August 2010, 04:31 PM
I'm hoping our Kosher "friend" at Facebook, Marc Zuckerberg, has a very bad day soon.


http://www.wellsvilledaily.com/news/x297559310/Another-check-surfaces-from-Facebook-owner-from-Ceglia

UPDATE: Another check surfaces from Facebook owner from Ceglia

By John Anderson
Daily Reporter
Posted Aug 16, 2010 @ 03:15 PM
Last update Aug 17, 2010 @ 02:43 PM

WELLSVILLE —

The Daily Reporter has received a copy of a bank check written on April 25, 2003 to Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg as part of a work-for-hire contract that is in the center of a civil suit over who owns the social network website, Facebook.
Wellsville resident Paul Ceglia is claiming the contract shows he owns 84 percent of the company, and now has a check, signed by Zuckerberg, with the words "For Deposit to Fleet Only" on the top.
The bank check is signed by David Newton of Wellsville, who still works for Community Bank, NA in Wellsville.
The company, which could be worth $24.6 billion, said Monday they do not dispute Ceglia and Zuckerberg worked together, but they do say Ceglia could be a fraud.
During an interview with Diane Sawyer on “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer,” Zuckerberg answered a question about the signatures, though he did stumble and refered to the signature as “we” instead of from himself.
“I don’t think that we ... that, uhh, if we said that we were unsure, I think that was likely taken out of context. Because I think we were quite sure that we did not sign a contract that says that they have any right to ownership over Facebook,” said Zuckerberg.
On Monday, Andrew Noyes, manager of public policy communications told the Daily Reporter, "We have never disputed that Mark did some work for Ceglia. Everything else asserted by the plaintiff is false and his lawsuit is frivolous, if not outright fraudulent.”
Ceglia said the work-for-hire contract was signed by Zuckerberg (the contract does state “The Face Book” in it) in a Boston hotel.
Fleet Bank was based in Providence, and was very strong in the Boston area. Most Fleet bank locations in Boston are now Bank of America.
Currently, attorneys are fighting over where the civil suit will be heard, in Allegany County State Supreme Court or a federal court in Buffalo.
Terrence Connors of the firm Connors & Vilardo, LLP, attorney for Paul Ceglia, filed the motion last week in U.S. District Court in Buffalo asking that a hearing on jurisdiction be held. Oral arguments will be heard at a date and time to be set by Judge Richard Arcara.
In a past case in federal court in Massachusetts, Zuckerberg argued that his residence was in New York. In this motion, Ceglia and his attorneys note Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, Inc., claims to be a resident of California.
“If he lives in California, the court case would be fought in Buffalo in federal court. If he lives in New York, it’s fought in Allegany County,” Ceglia told the Daily Reporter.
Facebook lawyers say Zuckerberg has been a California resident since 2004 when Facebook started.
In a statement, Facebook officials said, “This is another ridiculous and demonstrably false claim in an already absurd lawsuit. It is telling that the plaintiff does not want his bogus case heard by a federal court.”
Ceglia laughed about the statement.
“I couldnt believe how fast Facebook came out with both guns firing,” said Ceglia. “They already have this press release how I want to bring it back to Allegany County ‘cause I don’t want a federal court to hear it, they were jumping right on it.
“I think the evidence against Zuckerberg is staggering either way. But I would prefer to have it heard where it should be heard and that is in Allegany County Supreme Court,” Ceglia continued. “Why did he go through all this effort to remand it to the federal court?”
Connors said there is proof that Zuckerberg has a New York driver’s license and proof of active voter registration in Dobbs Ferry.
Ceglia’s original civil suit has a two-page work-for-hire contract that stated Ceglia would own 50 percent interest in the software, programming language and business interests derived from the expansion of The Face Book to a larger audience. It also states that for each day after Jan. 1, 2004, Ceglia would get an additional 1 percent of the business until the website was completed. The company website was finished Feb. 4, 2004, according to the suit, which meant that by then, Ceglia had acquired 84 percent of the interest in the business.
Zuckerberg’s and Facebook’s attorneys have until Aug. 30 to file opposition to this motion to remand. The court has to set a date for oral arguments on the motion.