Facebook Now Allows Merged Places Pages to Unmerge

By Josh Constine

Facebook today added an unmerge option to Pages which had been merged with Places. Facebook has allowed an admin of a similar official Page and claimed Places location page to merge these two entities since the launch of the Places location-sharing services in August, but offered no way to undo the combination.
Merged Place Pages are unable to set a default landing tab, frustrating admins who use custom tabs but had merged without knowing the consequences. The new unmerge option restores all the functionality of the separate entities.

We discussed a need for the option in our post on the disadvantages of merging earlier this month. Followers of the protest Page “Unmerge Places & My Business”, which has requested the option since early November, are currently rejoicing and thanking Facebook. Facebook’s move has successfully turn some outraged admins back into loyal supporters of the site.
Admins of merged Place Pages now see an “Unmerge all merged Places” button in the bottom left of their Page. When clicked, admins are shown the following confirmation message:

“Once you confirm this request, the format of this Page will be reverted to the previous format and location information will be removed. The Places that you merged will be restored as separate claimed Places that you also still own and must continue to manage.”

Admins of merged Places Pages which want to be able to set a landing tab or show a more familiar interface (at least until Facebook rolls out the Page redesigned that leaked last week) should take advantage of the option. Meanwhile, admins of Pages which haven’t merged, have a single physical location, and who want to focus on driving foot traffic can now experiment with merging without being stuck with the result.
[Thanks to Kim Bui of KPCC Los Angeles for the tip]