Facebook analyzes check ins to determine top social landmarks

Facebook has been allowing people to check in to places using their services called Places since February of last year. Since then, users around the world have been checking in to sports stadiums, beaches, malls and more. Facebook has anonymously compiled check in data from 25 cities around the world and has analyzed the spots that have been most checked in to. The cities are: Auckland (New Zealand), Barcelona, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Copenhagen, Delhi, Dublin, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Mexico city, Moscow, New York, Oslo, Paris, Rome, San Francisco, Sao Paolo, Seoul, Singapore, Stockholm, Tokyo and Toronto. Facebook wrote in a post on their Newsroom site that among the number 1 ranked landmark in these 25 cities:

• 7 are sports stadiums/arenas
• 6 are public areas: squares/avenues/parks/gardens
• 2 are amusement parks
• 2 are concert arenas
• 2 are shopping related: shopping centers/malls

Looking more closely at the data, Facebook found that shopping is an important place for people to check into, being in the top 10 check-in spots in 19 of 25 countries. These spots include Sao Paolo's Mercado Municipal, Seoul's Dongdaeum and Melbourne's Queen Victoria market. Another popular check-in spot is amusement parks like Johannesburg's Gold Reef City, Moscow's Gorky Park, Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens and Seoul's Lotte World. Restaurants are important check-in spots too with a signifcant one being Hard Rock Cafe in Delhi, Buenos Aires and Barcelona. Cities with warmer climates had, of course, more check-ins to outdoor spots like beaches while cities in colder climates had more check-ins to concert halls and bars.

Facebook compiles social landmarks

The same trend of temperature can be applied to seasonal check-ins. During the summer, Facebook found more check-ins to music festivals like Glastonbury and Lollapalooza as well as sports check-ins, particularly in Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco, which each had stadiums in their top ten list. Baseball was an important sport to check-in to particularly in Tokyo. Facebook's check-in service is still used by many people especially when they travel. However, in this list of places, Facebook has not included travel hubs like airports, train and bus stations. Which places do you check in to the most? Let us know in the comments below.