Facebook launches Nearby Friends • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook launches Nearby Friends

#21

Post by dougcorrea » Thu, Apr 17, 2014, 6:09 PM UTC

scrame wrote: post #19

dougcorrea wrote: post #12

What about automatically chatting with ANYONE nearby you that is using the app and "available" for chat? I think this will be a good idea. Imagine you in traffic, and launch the app to chat with the driver in the car side yours... The same could works when you go to party and don't try to find somebody "available" there.... This, for Facebook, should be easy, right?

Do you seriously think that wouldn't just turn into a chatroulette insta-dong service?

Actually the idea is to turn in it!

I think today one of most "popular" whatsapp feature is group message. Now imagine "localizated" group message formed automatically!

When you go to a Rock concert it will be possible to chat with everyone there, make new friends, chat privately and so on...

Actually it will be: chatroullete + whatsapp + tinder + Facebook Nearby :)

Maybe I should put this idea on IndieGoGo...

I'll wait for some feedbacks where first...them maybe I create an campaign there :)

Re: Facebook launches Nearby Friends

#22

Post by debt » Thu, Apr 17, 2014, 6:11 PM UTC

bronbron wrote: post #8

While this seems like a really cool idea, I have a feeling that this is the sort of feature that everyone will enable at first, and then one single bad event will cause them to disable it forever. I'm sure everyone has told a "white lie" at some point (e.g. "Sorry, I can't really hang out tonight because I'm not feeling well" == "I want to go see a movie by myself"), and anything that might hinder your ability to do…

It's weird because they've had a feature similar to this before. It was under a tab called "Nearby" or something in their left navigation. If I remember correctly it was web only but a user could access it on their phones through the mobile site. I liked it. It wasn't as one-to-one as this iteration of it though. It would only show you where someone recently checked-in. It was quite accurate though.

It eventually just went away. I wonder why they got rid of that, but now are doing something like this.

Re: Facebook launches Nearby Friends

#23

Post by scrame » Thu, Apr 17, 2014, 6:17 PM UTC

dougcorrea wrote: post #21

scrame wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you seriously think that wouldn't just turn into a chatroulette insta-dong service?

Actually the idea is to turn in it! I think today one of most "popular" whatsapp feature is group message. Now imagine "localizated" group message formed automatically! When you go to a Rock concert it will be possible to chat with everyone there, make new friends, chat privately and so on... Actually it will be: chatroullete + whatsapp + tinder + Facebook Nearby :) Maybe I should put this idea on IndieGoGo... I'll w…

Right, group messaging for people you know. I don't see anonymous group messaging as anything other than weird political blasting, anonymous dick pics and an outlet for road rage.

You also shouldn't be on facebook when you're driving.

Re: Facebook launches Nearby Friends

#24

Post by Rei_k » Thu, Apr 17, 2014, 6:19 PM UTC

dougcorrea wrote: post #21

scrame wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you seriously think that wouldn't just turn into a chatroulette insta-dong service?

Actually the idea is to turn in it! I think today one of most "popular" whatsapp feature is group message. Now imagine "localizated" group message formed automatically! When you go to a Rock concert it will be possible to chat with everyone there, make new friends, chat privately and so on... Actually it will be: chatroullete + whatsapp + tinder + Facebook Nearby :) Maybe I should put this idea on IndieGoGo... I'll w…

I think it could be a great thing. In a stadium, for example, it should be interesting for some people. And better that, in parties, obviously. But what we'll receive as perk to contribute on IndieGoGo? =)

Re: Facebook launches Nearby Friends

#25

Post by dougcorrea » Thu, Apr 17, 2014, 6:20 PM UTC

scrame wrote: post #23

dougcorrea wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually the idea is to turn in it! I think today one of most "popular" whatsapp feature is group message. Now imagine "localizated" group message formed automatically! When you go to a Rock concert it will be possible to chat with everyone there, make new friends, chat privately and so on... Actually it will be: chatroullete + whatsapp + tinder + Facebook Nearby :) Maybe I should put this idea on IndieGoGo... I'll w…

Right, group messaging for people you know . I don't see anonymous group messaging as anything other than weird political blasting, anonymous dick pics and an outlet for road rage. You also shouldn't be on facebook when you're driving.

I understand your point, but I'm curious how tinder, chatroullete and other forms to chat with unknown people are so popular?

Re: Facebook launches Nearby Friends

#26

Post by gedrap » Thu, Apr 17, 2014, 6:23 PM UTC

debt wrote: post #22

bronbron wrote: post #8

While this seems like a really cool idea, I have a feeling that this is the sort of feature that everyone will enable at first, and then one single bad event will cause them to disable it forever. I'm sure everyone has told a "white lie" at some point (e.g. "Sorry, I can't really hang out tonight because I'm not feeling well" == "I want to go see a movie by myself"), and anything that might hinder your ability to do…

It's weird because they've had a feature similar to this before. It was under a tab called "Nearby" or something in their left navigation. If I remember correctly it was web only but a user could access it on their phones through the mobile site. I liked it. It wasn't as one-to-one as this iteration of it though. It would only show you where someone recently checked-in. It was quite accurate though. It eventually jus…

I remember this feature. I also remember that hardly anyone of my friends used checking in so it was fairly useless :)

Re: Facebook launches Nearby Friends

#27

Post by gedrap » Thu, Apr 17, 2014, 6:27 PM UTC

zippergz wrote: post #17

nlh wrote: post #4

I can see both sides of this coin. On the one hand, the positive use case is actually pretty helpful -- I _would_ like to know if I'm at a bar and, for example, some friends are in the back that I might have otherwise missed. But on the flipside, this has the potential to turn a lot of social situations slightly sticky -- I immediately think back to a friend's "worst date ever" story where she was asked out by a guy…

It might be interesting if they could add some kind of geofencing feature to it. So you could have it automatically be enabled when you're hanging out at the bar you go to when you want to see friends, but be disabled otherwise. It's good that they let you turn it on and off whenever you want, but having to do so manually seems like a chore that will cause me to just leave it off all the time.

Creating a whitelist sounds a bit tedious. Because it might look fun at first, you would add a few places, but then forget it forever, don't update them and the feature would slowly die.

Blacklist makes more sense. E.g. I don't want people to know where exactly do I live. Or automatic disabling at specific dates, e.g. during the weekend.

Re: Facebook launches Nearby Friends

#28

Post by mmxiii » Thu, Apr 17, 2014, 6:27 PM UTC

While most posts are touching on privacy or failure cases, I am still struggling to understand this product from a social perspective. First of all, this general idea has been floating around since companies like loopt, when mobile started taking off. I remember working through the use case considerations for this kind of product, and that's where it really dies.

This breed of product is based on the idea that location = event. If someone is at a location, that means something is going on. But it ignores massive implicit social constructs: 1. Facebook friends are not real friends (Circles is slightly better but classification is onerous), 2. Someone you don't know well is unlikely to share their location to you, and less likely to agree to hang out based on location, in contrast someone you do know well, you will easily be aware of their location and availability.

The reality is that this product captures one piece of information - where is my friend right now. But on any serious reflection, you should be able to discern that this piece of information is incredibly secondary to the nature of the actual relationship when determining whether or not to hang out.