HOWTO: Disable Facebook “Places” Tagging

Facebook yesterday announced a new geolocation tagging feature, called “Places,” an app which enables people to send updates about where they are right now to their FB friends. Here’s how to turn it off.

That’s all well & good, except they added the ability for people you’re connected to on Facebook to broadcast YOUR location by tagging you in THEIR location updates.

This is clearly a disaster, as your girlfriend’s going to find out on her own FB home page that you’re actually at a party with a bunch of chicks instead of studying in the library like you told her so you could free yourself up for the evening.

Fortunately for you, Facebook added the ability to opt-out of other people putting your business in the streets. You can’t stop them from adding your name, but at least they can’t use your own wall to bust you.

Here’s how you disable the ability for people to dime you out:

Go to your Facebook account.
Click “Account” in the top right corner.
Click “Privacy Settings”.
In the “Sharing on Facebook” section, click “Customize settings”.
Scroll down to “Things others share” and make the option next to “Friends can check me into Places” read “Disabled”.