Check Yourself: Facebook Places Takes On Foursquare

The Places application takes elements from the widely popular Foursquare and Yelp, which let mobile users check in at certain locations and update their whereabouts in real-time across social networks like Facebook and Twitter. The difference, however, is that Facebook Places isn't designed to be competitive and users don't collect badges or become virtual mayors of a certain location when checking in frequently.

Facebook takes a more social aspect to location check-ins than Foursquare and others.

"Ever gone to a show, only to find out afterward that your friends were there too?" asked Michael Sharon, Facebook Places product manager, in a blog post.

Places gives users the option to share their location by "checking in" to that place. Their location is then displayed for friends via their Facebook profile.

To enable Places, users need to first download that most recent mobile Facebook update and then download the Facebook Places app. It only works with mobile browsers that support HTML 5 and geolocation.

Once installed, users can open the application and tap the "Check In" button, which will display a list of nearby places. The user chooses their location from the list, or adds it if it's not already available. After checking in, the check-in creates a story in friends' News Feeds and displays in the Recent Activity section on that place's Facebook page.

Places also lets users tag friends who are with them, similar to tagging a photo. And the "People Here Now" section lets users see others who checked in with you at that place. Users can opt not to appear in that section as well, by unchecking the "Include me in 'People Here Now' after I check in" privacy control, Sharon wrote.

Facebook is quick to add that users have control over who sees where they are and when. Sharon wrote that users can choose whether or not to share a location and once a user checks in only friends whose settings allow tagging can be tagged. Additionally, only Facebook friends can see when a users visits or is tagged at a certain place, unless the privacy control is set to "Everyone."

Users can also allow their friends to check them in at certain places and check-ins and tags can be removed from mobile devices and the web. And third-party applications must receive user permission before gaining access to users' Facebook Places information.