Facebook drops “regions” concept in move to simplify site

Facebook is mostly getting rid of “regions,” a long-time feature that lets users grant and receive access to personal profiles, groups and events within a geographic area.

The company says these regions, which can range in size from a city like San Francisco to a country like Spain, are too broad to accurately reflect people’s real-world connections. The site is too big, friendships span too many regions, and the existing definitions of regions themselves are too broad. Now, the site will rely on other existing, personal settings, like where people went to school or work, to define who can see what information.

You will no longer be able to filter stories from friends based on the region they’re in, so no more being able to filter to see all of your friends in “San Francisco” within your homepage stream. You’ll no longer be able to limit your privacy settings based on a region. But, you’ll be able to join groups and events regardless of region. Facebook isn’t entirely removing this regional information, though — the city or region you’ve previously told the site you’re in will appear within your personal profile and in search results.