Speculation Abounds As Facebook Plans Big Announcement Today

Foursquare, Gowalla and other mobile check-in services could get some big competition on Wednesday. Really big.

Facebook, the 800-pound gorilla of the social-networking world, has scheduled a media event for Wednesday afternoon at its Palo Alto, California, headquarters, according to a CNN report.

Virtually everybody paying attention predicts the site will announce its long-expected leap into the world of location-based networking. That might allow users to tell friends exactly where they are — using the GPS on their phones — in addition to what they’re doing and thinking.

A Facebook announcement is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. Mountain Time.

For months, Facebook has barely tried to conceal details about its plan to jump into the check-in space, which is dominated by smartphone apps that let users tell their friends where they are at any given time. Facebook all but promised to debut a location-based feature at its F8 Conference in April.

“We are working on location features and product integrations, which we’ll be launching in the coming months, and we’ll share more details when appropriate,” spokesman Larry Yu told CNN content partner CNET last week.

Read the full CNN article here.