Facebook Places

Your iPhone is loaded with geo-location apps like Foursquare and Gowalla, and you even use Facebook Places. All that is fine and dandy, but wouldn't it be nice if you found an app that compiles all of your (and your friends') social check-ins on one singular map? Enter MeMap (free), which does just that.

Using your shared check-ins, MeMap shows you which of your friends are around you now. One of the benefits? You know that you and your friend Sara are in the same neighborhood, but with MeMap, you can see that she's actually just a block away so you can pop in and say hello. Best part, you can customize privacy to show or not show your check-ins, so you always have control over who sees your location and when. MeMap works with Facebook Connect, so any location check-in used on Facebook Places or third-party apps linked to Facebook can be recorded.

What do you think — would you use MeMap?

Obviously, competition breeds innovation; without some healthy competition, companies wouldn't be pushed as hard to create the best possible products and experiences for consumers. And with so many smart companies and products on the market, it's nice to see that instead of constant head-to-head combat, companies took advantage of the progress made by their competitors, often embracing unlikely sources to make their services better. It's probably as close as we'll get to a feel-good technology story of 2010.

Check out a few examples and some predictions for 2011 after the break.

Foursquare launched pre-2010, but its wide adoption over the year and the emergence of many other location-based services signaled a huge trend in the making. Soon, even Facebook got into the game with Facebook Places, which quickly came under scrutiny for its privacy practices. While the services are generally safe to use, it's important to remember to monitor privacy settings to make certain you're only sharing information about your location with people you choose.

Deals
Once users were willing to share their whereabouts with friends and contacts, it wasn't long until retailers and other companies jumped into the mix, offering special deals for checking in or becoming the mayor of a certain location. Facebook Deals launched with partners like Gap and Virgin America, offering incentives to visit and check into stores. And after initially competing with other check in services, location-based deal app Loopt Star combined with Facebook Places, offering one unified map.

Location-based services also took advantage of the news, offering a little bit of humor amid the recent in-the-news rigors of airport security; Foursquare offers a Baggage Handler badge, and Loopt even launched a Touched by TSA giveaway to reward fliers for their cooperation with TSA authorities. Foursquare also took advantage of the recent elections, offering badges for voters, too.

And, just last week, one Foursquare superuser rigged his front door to open when he or his close friends checked into his apartment via Foursquare. Slightly extreme but kind of cool.

Find out what's next for location-based apps and services when you read more.

Remember when I told you about the hospitality-focused location service TopGuest? At the time, it was just picking up steam, but now the service, which is used in conjunction with Facebook Places and Foursquare, has teamed up with Virgin America to introduce a perfectly-timed holiday promotion.

Earn 25 extra Elevate frequent flier points just by checking in on TopGuest at any Virgin America airport terminal or baggage claim. You can rack up 50 extra points per trip, which can then be used toward future flights. Easy enough, right?

Gap is giving away 10,000 pairs of jeans today — and all you have to do is check into any Gap Men's or Women's store with Facebook Places for a chance to win! Following on the heels of the Facebook Deals announcement, this giveaway begins as stores open. To redeem your free pair, simply check in and show your phone to any Gap sales associate. According to the Facebook page, all stores are participating in the giveaway.

Gap posted details of the giveaway on its Facebook page and created a special events page dedicated to the in-store event that's worth a look if you're planning on trying to snag a pair since it includes official rules like, "Certain styles are not included in the offer."

If you miss out on the free pants, don't worry, you can still check in to receive a reward worth 40 percent off of your purchase.

Adding to the already stuffed location-based rewards space, Facebook announced today that it is launching its own rewards program, called "Deals," for people who use Facebook Places. So far only a small number of Facebook users actually check in on Places, but the upcoming rewards are sure to entice users to hit that "Check In" button.

So far the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, The North Face, Gap, and more have jumped aboard the Facebook Places rewards program (with over 20,000 more businesses to come) and are offering some pretty sweet deals. Find out what they are after the break.

Since its launch in August, Facebook Places has been used by 30 million Facebook users. But taking Facebook's 500 million users into account means that only 16 percent of users have used the Places feature. But this number is still much larger than Foursquare's 4 million users — although analysts agree that Foursquare shouldn't be worried. Find out why after the break.

You can use Loopt Star to check in and receive awesome rewards, but the original Loopt has partnered up with Facebook Places to make it easier than ever to see where your friends are now. With the latest version of Loopt, you can check in to both Loopt and Facebook Places from one app. If you choose to "connect to Facebook" within the Loopt app, your posts and location updates will automatically populate on Facebook Places, including any comments or messages you or your friends post on your wall.

What's more, you'll see your current locations on Loopt's interactive map, friend history, and even Friend Alerts, which tell you when your BFF has checked in within 10 miles of you. The update is free, and is available in the iTunes store now.

Last Winter, a UK-based website predicted home insurance rates could rise because of social networks and location-based sites like Foursquare. I was slightly skeptical at first, but now I'm changing my tune. Why? According to a New Hampshire news station, three men chose houses to rob based on Facebook status updates.

According to a blog post on the New York Times website, over 18 houses were targeted after the alleged perpetrators saw Facebook status updates indicating the residents weren't at home.

Keep reading after the jump.

There's a rumor going around on Facebook that the new location feature, Places, tracks your whereabouts at all times. The rumor is false, but it's creating quite a panic within the social network community. Facebook can't and won't track your every move, but you can inadvertently broadcast your exact location to the world if your profile is set to public.

Want to learn how to adjust your privacy settings and shut down Facebook Places for good? Then just keep reading.