Friendshake detects neighboring Facebook users

Facebook has made it possible to find people who are close to the user on the mobile site. This should make it easier to match people who meet at an event.

The new feature, which is called Friendshake, is available at a specially designed URL. This is part of the Facebook mobile website, but can also be used on the desktop. To find people nearby, this webpage must be open. Then users can directly add found persons to their friends list.

Facebook doesn’t appear to have officially unveiled its Friendshake feature yet, as there’s no announcement. However, the search service already seems functional. It is possible that more features will be added in the future: according to TechCrunch, it uses technology from Glancee, acquired by Facebook, which can also match people based on interests. The friend search service is mainly intended to easily link people who meet during an event: this means they no longer have to look for each other on the site.

Currently, Friendshake is only available on Facebook’s mobile website. However, it is likely that the service will also be coming to the social networking site’s mobile apps soon.