Facebook Places

Facebook Places App

Have you heard of the new Facebook Places Directory? Many didn’t – the launch wasn’t widely publicized.

What is well known is that Facebook knows a great deal of information about its users – where we go, how often we go, what days we are there, who we went with, and more.

What does that mean?

Everyone is aware that people talk – and people talk online. Facebook Places combines friends talking online with specific cities and places.

For example, if a person is looking for a restaurant in Minneapolis, they can see posts from their friends who have gone to restaurants in Minneapolis. The reviews that were given by his/her friends will scroll at the bottom.

Statistics show that 79% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations (searchengineland.com). So with Facebook Places, users get the best of both worlds – an online review by their friends at the click of a mouse. With over 1 billion users on Facebook, “word of mouth” (or click of a mouse, if you will) can spread pretty quickly.

Is it poised to replace Yelp or other local search and travel sites? Probably not – but there’s something to be said about Facebook and its power to connect us to our friends and their opinions.