There is a Bing Maps app out there that does something quite interesting: on Bing Maps, it shows you where all your Facebook friends are; it shows you on Bing Maps the geographical location of the people you’re friends with on Facebook. Isn’t that great? You can keep track of your friends’ location, something that is especially useful if you have friends who travel a lot.

The application, which is called My Friends, does its job by using Facebook APIs to pull down information about your friends from Facebook. To get started with the app you need to follow a few simple steps:

- First up access the Bing Maps app by clicking here. If this is the first time you try out a Bing Maps app, it may be necessary for you to install Silverlight. Without Silverlight the app will not work – no Bing Maps app will work.
- Now click the blue connect button from the left hand side of the screen.
- You will be redirected to Facebook. You must now allow the My Friends app access to your Facebook account. So click “Allow” from the bottom right hand side of the screen.
- You will be taken back to Bing Maps. Just that this time you will see your friends pop up on the map – only the friends who have listed a “Current City” in their profile though.

Once you’re done doing this, you will uncover some handy functionality. For example you can write on a friend’s wall from within Bing Maps. Click a friend’s pin on the map and you will see that friend’s picture and status.

If you have a bunch of friends in one location, the app uses a “de-clustering algorithm” that will “spin their photos into a circle and tether them back to the location with a line” as Bing Maps Technical Evangelist Chris Pendleton explained.