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Facebook continues to engage users in new ways and is testing star ratings for Facebook Places.
Select users now see a “rate these places” module in the sidebar with the option to give one to five stars to places they have checked in to or liked.
This feature could help Facebook better organize places in search or a new recommendation engine. To avoid rating manipulation, app ratings use random sampling rather than a static page.
Star ratings could be the start of growing a less popular location search feature similar to Yelp or Google for business searches.
The new feature allows Facebook to gather more data. Users post more public information, providing more public data and revealing spending habits that the company can leverage. The review feature gives places even more of an incentive to pay to buy ad space and have their pages promoted.
The social nature of the network means businesses get free marketing since reviews will spread around friend networks and not just appear to people specifically searching for a page.
Users can still leave recommendations in a module on the timeline of place pages. Facebook tested a “favorite places” module in the sidebar last year, but this hasn’t been available for a year or so.
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