A couple weeks ago, after All Facebook spotted the ability to check-in to Facebook events, the social network confirmed to us that the feature would be launching shortly on the iPhone and their mobile-based touch site. Today, here it is.
Version 3.4 of Facebook’s iPhone app actually has a few other nice updates as well. These include the ability to view your friends on a map from the Places area (and it uses Google Maps, not Bing Maps), an “improved” News Feed, an “improved” notifications UI, and the ability to unfriend someone from your phone, finally.
The folks at IntoMobile posted this YouTube video that explains the new features of Version 3.4 of Facebook’s iPhone app:
But again, the big thing is the Facebook Event check-ins. Previously, you could only check-in via Facebook Places. That meant checking-in to various locations around cities just like you do on Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, and others. But now that you can check-in to events themselves, it opens a range of possibilities. You could run contests at events through this, for example.
To be able to check-in to an event you have to (obviously) be invited and RSVP’d “yes” to attending. Your location also has to match the location of the listed event venue, and it has to be the correct time of the event. All of this will presumably help dissuade gaming.
I just tested the feature out by creating a test event and it works well. Assuming you’ve met all the above requirements, you’ll see a nice big “Check In” button on the event’s page. There’s also a new “Here Now” area on the event’s page to show you who is currently at the event. And the “Recent Activity” includes check-ins as well as pictures, comments, etc.
So, the next question: when is this functionality coming to Android? Facebook wouldn’t give a specific date when we talked to them a few weeks ago. This continues the trend of Android playing second fiddle to the iPhone in terms of functionality.
Still, I’m sure it will launch one day. And to be fair, they still don’t even have an official app for the iPad yet — something which seems more ridiculous with each passing day.
You can find Facebook for iPhone in the App Store here.
COMMENTS: I don't use Facebook Places, because I don't own an iPhone, but when Facebook Places first came out back in August 2010, the privacy settings were turned "off". In effect, Facebook Places was turned on by default. You could track the location of your friends, unless they turned "on" their privacy settings. Whoops, that sure pissed off a lot of people. The idea of allowing others to track or even stalk you, is really a giant misstep by Facebook. Never fear, here's an article that explains how to set your Facebook privacy settings so that your friends won't track you on Facebook Places.
For me privacy has always been an issue for location-based services such as Facebook Places, Foursquare and Gowalla. Facebook Places could fill some useful purpose, but being tracked is not something that I like. A Reuters article dated August 20, 2010 pointed out the serious privacy issue prevalent in Facebook Places.
The new Facebook Places event check-in is no big thing as far as I am concerned. If you were in the military or law enforcement and you wanted to track people, this could be useful, but it is so intrusive, that I would never use it much. I occasionally use Foursquare, but I have even thought that app, mostly useless. Who the hell gives a crap about being a "Mayor" of a business establishment, or winning badges for multiple check-ins. Last time I checked, I had earned three badges.
Courtesy of an article dated April 4, 2011 appearing in TechCrunch
Glad to know that you can now use the advantage of Facebook to announce and organize an event. For sure you will impress your guests and visitors using these.
Posted by: event space NYC | 07/10/2011 at 07:15 PM
Good news for iphone users!:P
Posted by: hellen | 04/05/2011 at 11:06 PM