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Facebook's Location Tool: Places

By Marcella Glenn

On Wednesday, Facebook started a location service. Mobile device users, owners, with Facebook accounts can give friends their exact location. The service is free.

The service works with iPhone, iPod, Touch, Black-Berry, iPad, Torch and Android devices. The logo is a purple icon situated above a map image.

Click on "Here Now" to find which friends are where.

'Places' is a hit with consumers and advertisers. It's divided with small businesses, Greg Sterling, independent social networking analyst explained.

"What we see with Facebook is a massive learning curve. Every time they make a change, consumers scramble to figure out the privacy settings," Rainey Reitman pointed out-spokeswoman for Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in the US. "Location data is tied to people's safety, if people know where you are, they know where you're not. Your location data is some of the most sensitive data we have. I expect we'll see from the get go people who don't understand how to control the privacy settings," she continued.

Marcella Glenn is a freelance writer, blogger, novelist, and former business editor. She looks forward to hearing from you. Scribble a note to her through NewsBlaze, or her blog at critiqueandwrite.blogspot.com