According to a release issued tonight, it appears that Facebook’s geo-location feature Places is being rolled out now in Japan. Here’s the translated version.
While the Google Translation doesn’t seem to be 100 percent accurate, the functionality between the U.S. version and the Japanese version seems to be similar. Users will be able to access the Japanese version of Facebook Places via the Facebook iPhone app, or through the smartphone browser.
Japan appears to be first country outside of the U.S. to receive Facebook Places integration, although it appears that it is being tested in the U.K. and Canada.
It’s interesting that Facebook chose Japan as the second country launch for Places. But Japan seems to be one of the fastest growing countries in terms of traffic so perhaps this will help this trajectory continue. Another factor for the initial launch in Japan could be competitor Foursquare’s recent popularity in the country.
UPDATE: Facebook has confirmed to TechCrunch that Places has launched in Japan.
Facebook is the world’s largest social network, with over 1 billion monthly active users. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004, initially as an exclusive network for Harvard students. It was a huge hit: in 2 weeks, half of the schools in the Boston area began demanding a Facebook network. Zuckerberg immediately recruited his friends Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes, and Eduardo Saverin to help build Facebook, and within four months, Facebook added 30 more college networks. The original...
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