Facebook will no longer report to you on a map the exact location of your friends nearby, but you can send them a little greeting
Facebook is changing the Nearby Friends feature that allowed you to let your friends know your exact location and know who were somewhere near you. A feature criticized by many for privacy issues.
It was, in fact, an optional feature, but there are those who often forgot to turn it off with sometimes unpleasant consequences. Once activated, in fact, your friends could locate you very precisely on a map. Not a bad idea: someone was nearby? Good. Why not meet up and have a coffee together? Facebook isn't eliminating it completely, it's simply changing it. You'll continue to see who's in your vicinity, but within a list with the possibility of contacting them with a "Wave" - a kind of Poke - to let them know you'd like to meet up.
Friends near and far
It's not clear why Facebook took this "step back", but you can bet it has something to do with privacy. It's true that the feature loses maps on the way, but it gains visibility. If before, in fact, it was almost hidden in the "Other" section, now it will be visible on the main page of the social network. You won't see the exact position of someone who is in your vicinity, it's true, but you can send him a greeting on the fly and eventually receive an invitation to meet up with him. But he will tell you exactly where he is. Or you.