Some Facebook users who live to the east of the Atlantic can now share their location on the site. Today, Facebook Places launched in the UK, allowing people to check in and tag their friends (or not) as they move around in the real world.
Nothing’s different about the way Facebook Places operates in the UK compared to the US, so we won’t bother with lots of long descriptions and technical details. Plenty of documentation already exists.
The key development is just the international rollout itself. It demonstrates that Facebook has overcome (or thinks it has overcome) any initial privacy concerns some users and organizations expressed.
Also, the expansion indicates that Facebook is on top of whatever technical issues dealing with check-ins entails.
Unfortunately, Facebook hasn’t shared any details about what will come next. And it should be interesting to see how soon the rollout continues, since that could be a sign of what sort of demand exists for Facebook Places.
In the meantime, though, let’s just hope that UK-based Facebook users are able to adapt and Facebook isn’t hit by any more overblown tales about crime.