Los Angeles — Internet’s popular social media network Facebook is reportedly stitching another layer to its location-based features by adding check-ins to events.
Check into an event: Interestingly, it makes even more sense than checking into an irregular venue or business and this is one of those features so obvious you have to wonder why it did not exist already.
The company confirmed the new feature with PC Mag: “We are currently testing a way for people to check in to Events,” Facebook’s Meredith Chin said. “We will be releasing it with the next version of the iPhone app.”
According to an All Facebook report, the option to check in will appear on an icon that will only be available on the day of the event. This feature will also work with the iPhone’s GPS, and the icon will only appear when the user is near the location listed on the Event’s page.
Image courtesy of Inside Facebook.
By now, most high-end cell phone owners are at least slightly familiar with the concept of checking into a place, venue or business on any of a number of location services. The social media network Facebook services are overlapping with those of major players in a lot of different industries.
The location-based service/check-in app space is something Facebook has been involved with for a while, though Foursquare, Google Latitude, Gowalla, SCVNGR–the list goes on and on — and hardly seems deterred by the social media network giant’s foray into this so far. And while the emphasis or motivation behind checking in might be placed somewhat differently, the idea of checking in is pretty standard across the board.
Last year, Facebook rolled out Facebook Places, a location-based tool that lets users broadcast their locations and tag friends at the same place. Users can also see which of their friends are located nearby. Upon accessing your location, Facebook Places would normally present a list of nearby venues that you could check in to.
Moreover, Facebook Places, which already has an initial advantage over other location services due to the sheer size of Facebook’s user base, has something even greater going for it here. Now, the service actually looks at the location for your RSVP’d events and will suggest that you check into one if it is nearby and occurring at that time.
The latest feature was first unearthed as an option on touch.facebook.com, the mobile version of Facebook particularly developed for touchscreen mobile devices like the iPhone.
However, it is mostly an experimental feature for now. For example, imagine that only the people who checked into an event could upload and see photos from the event. That said, the next version of Facebook for iPhone will include the option natively.