Facebook has a tendency to add features to their social networking service without giving anyone outside the company much of a heads-up. The company did that recently with the introduction of editing comments in status reports. Now, TechCrunch reports that Facebook has added yet another option to the mix.
This new feature allows people to find their Facebook friends, or any possible future friends, if they happen to be nearly their location. The feature was originally named Friendshake but it is now called simply Find Friends Nearby. The feature can be checked out on the Facebook web page. It can also be accessed for the iOS and Android mobile apps.
The engineer at Facebook who helped to create the new feature, Ryan Patterson, stated on TechCrunch's forums:
For me, the ideal use case for this product is the one where when you’re out with a group of people whom you’ve recently met and want to stay in contact with. Facebook search might be effective, or sharing your vanity addresses or business cards, but this tool provides a really easy way to exchange contact information with multiple people with minimal friction.
Users have to go to the Find Friends Nearby URL in order to activate and use the service. Their friends or possible friends have to be using it as well.
Source: TechCrunch.com
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