The Palo Alto company introduced a feature called Places, which allows its users from the United States, their entry to a place and post it to their Facebook profiles. The company has upgraded its Facebook application for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch to include sites in Facebook. Work continues on applications for other mobile devices.
Facebook has also partnered with Yelp and pioneers of geolocation Foursquare, Gowalla Booyah and to integrate their services with "Places".
"We are very excited about this, we have been working on it for a while, and the team has done a great job of putting together," said CEO Mark Zuckerberg at a news conference at the headquarters of Facebook.
Location-based services as Gowalla Foursquare and have gained a small following but growing number of mobile phone applications that allow virtually anyone "check in" to get to a store or restaurant and share that information with friends.
And earlier this week, Palo Alto startup Shopkick Inc. unveiled its new iPhone application that offers electronic coupons and special offers to a mobile phone when a user is within a inclucing retail partners Best Buy, Macy's, American Eagle Outfitters and Sports Authority.
But Facebook has long been rumored to be working on a function based on the location itself. Facebook officials said the property could lead to a world in which memories of a particular place, they share time and from generation to generation.
"What starts to happen is the physical reality were brought to life with the human stories we said there," said Chris Cox, Facebook vice president of product. "That's the drug."
Facebook entry puts the location-based services into the mainstream, because the social network reaches over 500 million active users worldwide, said Susan Etlinger Altimeter Group, a San Mateo research and consulting.
"Until now, Facebook knows who you are, what you are doing and when," Etlinger said. "Now where are added. That adds a completely different dimension, making the online experience closest to real-world experience."
Facebook has caused controversy in the past to privacy. For places, officials said that Facebook members can control who sees the location information. For children, the default setting is "just friends."
"This basically confirms that we are in something, this will be something much, much bigger forward," said Holger Luedorf, vice president of mobile and Foursquare associations, which is headquartered in New York.
Stanley Holditch, a spokesman for InternetSafety.com, said members of Facebook, in general, and parents in particular, must weigh the potential benefits of the property of the new location of the potential dangers and take the time to review your settings Privacy.
"Everybody has to say, 'What am I going to participate in this program and that balance the potential risks," said Holditch.
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