Both Twitter and Facebook have been playing around with location-based features for their respective social networks, according to a series of reports that suggest they may be planning to launch functionality that shares where you are within the first half of this year.

Twitter has been fiddling with location features through its API for some time, but the site recently turned on the functionality for its website too - showing tweets with a small location marker next to the time it was sent. When you hover over the marker, it turns blue and clicking it brings up a small window with a Google map that shows where it was sent from. The feature has since been withdrawn but is set to launch at the SxSW conference in Austin shortly.

Facebook appears to be moving down similar lines - the New York Times is reporting that in early April the company will unveil a location-based feature that allows you to share your position with friends. It'd be subject to tight privacy controls, and opt-in only, but the company refused to offer much in the way of other details.

Are you comfortable sharing your location with all your friends? Or are you happier keeping it private? Let us know what you think of the privacy implications in the comments.

Via: techcrunch.com

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