Track your Facebook buddies with Sniff

Tracking your friend's whereabouts with cell phone based tracking systems is nothing new, but a new service called Sniff, which stands for 'Social Network Integrated Friend Finder' will help you track your Facebook buddies once they've given your permission.

Sniff is a closed network so only people you know are able to track you. You and your friends have to sign up for the service to use it, but once you do, you can start adding friends to your list via text or Facebook. The next time you want to meet with friends, you simply text 'sniff' along with their name, and the service will send you a text message of their approximate location. Those 'sniffed' will get a message too.

You will be charged about a $1 for each text you send, so keep that in mind before tracking those on your buddy list. It's still not clear on the site which U.S. carriers will support this service, but mobile carriers in the UK offering the service include Orange, T-Mobile, and Vodafone.

I honestly don't see why anyone would pay to track their friends, when they can just text them or call them to get their location.

One good reason for signing up for this service though, is to be able to find a lost or stolen phone, in which case, you would ask a friend to text your phone to get its location.

Signing up for Sniff doesn't mean you're always trackable. The site does offer some invisibility and blocking options for those times when you just want to chill out alone.

'Sniff' out acquaintances, wherever they are (Yahoo! News)