Facebook kills off “Find Friends Nearby” feature?

Do you think that Facebook has a penchant to do things quietly on the side? After all, it was reported earlier that Facebook did introduce a “Find Friends Nearby” feature on the quiet, and not only that, there were whispers of discontent across the Internet when Facebook started to change the email address displayed without getting permission from the user. Well, for those who missed out on the “Find Friends Nearby” feature, chances are you would have missed out on it completely, as it is no longer available. Perhaps this has something to do with the social networking giant being worried about the kind of privacy issues that might arise.

The URL, fb.com/ffn, is now defunct – which means you can no longer check out those who are close to your proximity over your handset. This particular feature has been deactivated, which is rather premature to us. According to a Facebook statement, “This wasn’t a formal release – this was something that a few engineers were testing. With all tests, some get released as full products, others don’t. Nothing more to say on this for now – we’ll communicate to everyone when there is something to say.”

It does make us wonder just how come this particular feature was not tested in private beforehand, only to have it appear and removed in such a manner.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Computers
Tags: Facebook