In today’s internet frenzy, Facebook can be seen as one of the best community get together spots. To make people more accessible to one another, the social media giant had introduced ‘Nearby Friends‘ back in April 2014. This feature was opt-in and enabled you to learn your approximate distance from friends and followers. But it hasn’t worked wonders and the company is now killing the said feature in favor of something different.
Using Nearby Friends, a potential Facebook user (i’m guessing you) had been given the ability to share your precise location with a cohort of friends on the social network. Your general location was accessible to anyone on your friend list but you had complete control over what the other person has access to. This helped ease putting together instant meetup plans, drinking nights and dinner dates for users.
But the feature wasn’t being used extensively and you had to keep supplying your location info to the application at all times. It could drain your smartphone battery even when you’re not willing to meet up or make plans with friends. Thus, TechCrunch reports that Facebook has confirmed their plans of stripping the Nearby Friends service of a rather prominent component — that also gave you the power to stalk your friends or your ex. The map which allowed to pin point exact location of users is now being nixed from the said product.
You’re no longer being provided the capability to access the mapping service backed into the Facebook app’s Nearby Friends tab. Instead, it now provides you with just a list of friends along with their location and when they were last there underneath the same. The company now is also testing another approach towards the said feature by allowing you to let people know that you’re in their proximity.
Called Wave, this can be seen as a successor to Poke and has been inspired via an unknown, unheard social app Peach. The social network is currently testing this feature, where the user will be able to wave (like literally waving via an animated emoji) to nearby friends and let them know that they’re in your vicinity. This will be immensely helpful as previously one didn’t have knowledge of their friends were free to hangout or not. But now you can wave them hello and continue to have a lightweight chat to discuss plans. The company is also testing a desktop version of Nearby friends in the chat window on the right side as well. It shows a list of friendlies who are in nearby neighborhoods, along with the name. You can just simply tap on their names and start messaging to arrange a hangout plan. This feature will work wonders if added to the Messenger, which itself has amassed a gathering of over a billion active users.
Talking about the same, a Facebook spokesperson says,
We are testing a new feature within Nearby Friends allowing people to send their friends a waving hand emoji to say hello and help them meet up. This is meant to give people more ways to express themselves, and help friends interact with one another in new fun and lightweight ways.
