Facebook’s Nearby Friends List has had the Exact Location sharing feature since its introduction in 2014. Facebook has now decided to remove the feature and replace it by sharing the neighbourhood location and a contact’s distance away in a move to prioritise privacy and approachability.
The company has decided to add a new feature called “Wave” which will send out a casual invitation to nearby contacts to meet up in person via a friendly emoji. This feature will be added very soon as confirmed by Facebook.
Confirming the “Wave” feature a Facebook spokesperson said, “We are testing a new feature within Nearby Friends allowing people to send their friends a waving hand emoji to say hello and help them meet up. This is meant to give people more ways to express themselves, and help friends interact with one another in new fun and lightweight ways.”
We have also noted that the integrated map had disappeared from the Nearby Friends list from the “More” tab on the Facebook app. However the option has been notice on the desktop version of Facebook. The Integrated Map feature is intended to replace Facebook’s long time “poke” functionality due to its improved accessibility and more features.
