How to get Real Time Location Sharing on Facebook: Glymse

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Finally, Facebook is all set to launch its location feature. The rumor that was swirling for a long time, is now turning true, thanks to Glymse. With this new service you can share your location with Facebook friends via the News Feed. A widget will help you show your position to others and giving them real-time updates as you move from one place to another.

Glymse was first introduced in May 2009 on Android smartphone. The location-based service is a great help to convince your friends that you are actually stuck in traffic. It’s worth of a phone call like “Well, I’ll be there within 10 minutes, please wait a while”. Your approach to use Glymse, will intimate friends with your current whereabouts. They can locate your position and can assume how much time you would take to arrive at their favorite restaurant.

Glymse works like Google Latitude with a small difference. It grants people temporary access to your location. The integration of Glympse with Facebook will embed an interactive map that continuously show your updates, rather than redirecting your friends to the Glympse site (as it used to happen earlier when you share to Twitter).

The advantage of using Glymse over always-on location services is that you don’t have to worry about your location being shared accidentally, when you didn’t want. Because, you are left with the option to choose the time span for which you want your friends or colleagues to locate your position. For instance, you may opt for expiry time of five hours, which means after five hours Glymse will not disclose your location to your friends. The privacy issue, which Glymse ensures, is also important. You can choose from Facebook’s Friend List feature to specify who can see the map and plot your current location.