'Check-In' to this!

'Check-In' to this!

By Stefanie Di Mascio

Last month in the US, Facebook launched an application by the name of Places (available to Canadians this month). Using a location-based feature on your Smartphone this application allows Facebook users to ‘check in’ to real time locations like restaurants, shopping malls, etc. Once you’ve checked in you can tag friends, (just like you would tag them in pictures) notifying them your whereabouts. If anyone on your friends list also has this application you will be able to see when they checked in, where they are and approximately how far they are from your current location. The new application is going head-to-head with current location programs like Foursquare, Google’s Latitude and Gowalla.

So what do you think? Is this application necessary? Any chance you’ll be signing up for it once it’s available here? Personally, I don’t think the application is for everyone. The days of doing your own thing without having to tell the world are clearly over. I love my friends but I don’t need to know where they are every hour of the day. If they are at a great restaurant or watching amazing movie I can wait for them to tell me after the fact. It’s been said that Facebook has assisted in the demise of many relationships, and I have a feeling an application like Places will jolt the relationship world once again. For those of you fibbing about where you are or where you have been, you may want to stay away from this APP and watch your back because someone you know may just check in.