Been playing around with new iPhone. Saw this Nearby Friends notification setting. I never get nearby friends updates because most of my peeps are not checking into Facebook, and the remainder are on foursquare or Gowalla.
This got me thinking (oh boy here we go again). What if there was a sub-menu for the Nearby Friends setting? Something like Age/Sex/Location/Mutual friends/Likes. That way, Facebook mobile app would notify me when people who fit my criteria were nearby.
Opt-in issues, identity hiding and a lot of other issues to address, but this is interesting.
I am enjoying looking into all of the mobile discovery apps that are popping up all over the place. My stance is that most of them are redundant, but a few appear promising.
If you take relationship status out of the equation, these apps suddenly become more appealing, easier to fund, market and promote. But what does the value proposition look like then and where does the revenue come from? iAds and other ad networks, local business ads, a few different options right off the top of my head.
Instead of theorizing until the cows come home, go turn on the alerts and actually use them for a while. What do you see happening?
Here’s how to tun on nearby friend alerts.
If you have push notifications for the Facebook application on the iPhone or Android turned on, you’ll receive a push notification from friends that check in at nearby Places.
To turn push notifications on or off for Nearby Friends, take the following steps on your iPhone or Android:
- Navigate to the Settings panel on your iPhone.
- Tap the Facebook application.
- Choose whether to turn push notifications for Nearby Friends on or off.
Places uses the last Place you visited or the location you’re currently at to determine which of your friends are nearby. We’ll only send you a limited number of push notifications each day that are likely to be the most interesting to you. Please note that you won’t get push notifications about all of the Places your friends visit.
From Facebook Help Center Question How do I receive push notifications on my iPhone or Android about friends who have checked in at nearby Places?
