Location-based social software for mobile devices

A method for communicating location information to a device, comprising:

• receiving, at a computer system that implements a social networking service, location information that represents a geographic location of a device associated with a first user;
• determining, by the computer system and based on the location information, a list of venue names of venues that are determined to be near the geographic location;
• providing, by the computer system and to the device, the list of venue names;
• receiving, at the computer system and from the device, a check in indication from the user device, the check in indication be an indication that the user has selected a venue name from the list of venues and that the user has checked into a venue specified by the venue name;
• associating, by the computer system, the received location information with a profile associated with the first user;
• and
• sending, from the computer system to a device associated with a second user, a message that is generated based at least in part on the location information and that includes the selected venue name so that, when the message is displayed on the device associated with the second user, the message indicated the first user has checked into the venue location.

One or more tangible, non-transitory machine-readable media having recorded thereon instructions, that when executed by one or more computer processors, perform operations comprising:

• receiving, at a computer system that implements a social networking service, location information that represents a geographic location of a device associated with a first user;
• determining, by the computer system and based on the location information, a list of venue names of venues that are determined to be near the geographic location;
• providing, by the computer system and to the device, the list of venue names;
• receiving, at the computer system and from the device, a check in indication from the user device, the check in indication be an indication that the user has selected a venue name from the list of venues and that the user has checked into a venue specified by the venue name;
• associating, by the computer system, the received location information with a profile associated with the first user;
• and
• sending, from the computer system to a device associated with a second user, a message that is generated based at least in part on the location information and that includes the selected venue name so that, when the message is displayed on the device associated with the second user, the message indicated the first user has checked into the venue location.

A computer system, comprising:

• one or more computers;
• and
• one or more tangible, non-transitory machine-readable media having recorded thereon instructions, that when executed by the one or more computers, perform operations comprising:
• receiving, at the computer system that implements a social networking service, location information that represents a geographic location of a device associated with a first user;
• determining, by the computer system and based on the location information, a list of venue names of venues that are determined to be near the geographic location;
• providing, by the computer system and to the device, the list of venue names;
• receiving, at the computer system and from the device, a check in indication from the user device, the check in indication be an indication that the user has selected a venue name from the list of venues and that the user has checked into a venue specified by the venue name;
• associating, by the computer system, the received location information with a profile associated with the first user;
• and
• sending, from the computer system to a device associated with a second user, a message that is generated based at least in part on the location information and that includes the selected venue name so that, when the message is displayed on the device associated with the second user, the message indicated the first user has checked into the venue location.