Wired Indiana

SNIFF your Facebook friends

Fortunately, this has nothing to do with smelling your friends over the Internet, as many of my friends tend to be unwashed computer geeks. No, SNIFF stands for Social Network Integrated Friend Finder, which is a service that allows you to use your cell phone or other portable devices equipped with GPS to track your friends’ locations in the real world (with their permission). The idea is that your cell phone would alert you when one of your friends was nearby, so that you could meet up with them. You wouldn’t even need to call them to ask them where they are, as you’d have a map directly to their location. While the concept is interesting, I have to wonder if people would really want their friends tracking their movements or knowing where they are at all times. One application I could see this being used for, however, is by parents wanting to keep tabs on their children.

Jun. 3 - The Social Network Integrated Friend Finder is a permission-based service that allows friends to find each other in the real world.

The service is billed as a safe and convenient way to connect with online friends in the offline world. But do people really want their friends to SNIFF them?