Facebook Went to See the Facebook Movie

Here’s the thing about Facebook‘s Places: if you use it, people can tell where you are.  Just as the Wall Street Journal noticed that a whole bunch of Facebook employees were checking in at the Century Cinema theater in Mountain View, California, for a showing of The Social Network.

Even Mark Zuckerberg checked in, although he checked in at a nearby restaurant just a few minutes later.

A frustrated walkout?  Unlikely, since Places doesn’t require you to actually be in a certain location in order to check in there.  Technically, either check-in could have been a fabrication.  Or both.

The Journal was unable to get a response from Facebook right away, noting that this might have been because everybody at Facebook was watching a movie. Eventually, though, someone from the site did confirm it, saying:

To celebrate a period of intense activity at Facebook, we decided to go to the movies. We thought this particular movie might be amusing.

Judging by the weekend box office, they may have been right.