US Facebook users will soon be able to see which of their friends are in close proximity using a new feature the company is launching.
Nearby Friends is an optional tool, and will only be available to people who choose to turn it on.
The feature uses a smartphone's GPS system to tell a person's Facebook friends they are nearby - provided they have the feature turned on.
Users can also manually share a more precise location with a specific friend they'd like to meet up with.
By default, a person's exact location will only be shared for an hour, although that can be changed.
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Facebook said the Nearby Friends feature will be turned off by default, so users shouldn't expect to broadcast their location unknowingly to their Facebook friends and acquaintances.
It also won't be available to users under 18, product manager at Facebook, Andrea Vaccari said on Thursday.
The slow rollout means that most users won't have the feature available right away but rather in the coming weeks and months.
