In what could be important insights for marketers trying to figure out how to use Facebook more effectively, social media analytics firm Socialbakers has launched what it calls Facebook Places, a new feature that provides data on the places Facebook users are checking into using Facebook Check-in feature.

The first set of data released by Socialbakers is revealing. While certain findings—such as airports emerging as one of the top category locations in many countries across the world to which Facebook users check in—do not come as a surprise, there are interesting differences between countries.

A comparison of data for the US and India Facebook Places illustrates this very well. As many as 30 airports feature among the top 50 locations in the US where Facebook users have checked in to, according to Socialbakers data, with Los Angeles Airport (LAX) leading the table. This is followed by the places of tourist interest/recreation places which took eight of the top 50 positions, followed closely by sports complex/stadia which occupied seven top spots. While four casinos also featured among the Top 50, Facebook's old office in Palo Alto was the only odd man out in the list.

In India, on the contrary, the distribution of categories of places was a little more secular. While the tourist places—that included two religious places, Gurudwara Bangla Saheb in Delhi and Golden Temple in Amritsar, both Sikh piligrimage spots—occupied 15 of the top 50 spots, shopping malls/ market complexes/multiplexes occupied followed closely with 14 spots. Airports accounted for 11 places while hotels and upmarket cafes accounted for the rest 10. While the complete absence of sports stadia in the top 50 does not come as a surprise—and is in sync with our performance in international sporting events—significant presence of upmarket places such as Select City Mall and DLF Emporio, upmarket restaurants such as Leopold Cafe (Mumbai)/Hard Rock Cafe (Delhi)/Toit (Bangalore) and luxury hotels such as Leela and Taj Palace indicate that the Facebook users are still from the upper income brackets. And not to forget, in India Airport access also has a similar skew.

“It is not exactly the Facebook users per se,” says Mrutyunjay Mishra, Co-founder JuxtConsult, one of the leading online research firms and the owners of the annual India Online report, which measures and analyzes India's online behaviour. “Those who check in,” he explains, “are those who use Facebook from their mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets.” 

He says it is no secret that use of those devices are restricted to the top end of consumers.

The absolute numbers also point to the same. While the top checked in place in India has a total check-in of less than 70,000; the 200th most popular check-in place in the US has more check-ins than that. This is despite India having comparable number of Facebook users as well as more mobile users than the US.

Used smartly, this data could help marketers gain further insight about the consumers' lifestyle, beyond basic information such as gender and area of residence. This could also help sports and event management firms, restaurants, cafes, shopping malls and multiplexes create targeted campaigns and measure the effectiveness of their campaigns. Shopping malls and events companies today create Facebook pages and measure the number of Likes they get. This data could help them in measuring not just how many actually turn up but also help them know their basic profile. While Likes are a passive engagement and can often be the result of aggressive promotions/freebies, check-in information is usually real and hence gives a better insight of consumer engagement.