Facebook has posted a small update for its iOS application this afternoon, bringing the mobile client to version 6.3. The update only brings about a handful of improvements, but one of them could have major implications for the social network.
New in version 6.3 are blue check mark icons for verified accounts—similar to what you see on Twitter. This makes it easier to find pages of celebrities, public figures and brands that have been officially confirmed and authenticated by Facebook…
Here’s your full change log:
• Find verified celebrities, public figures and brands by looking for a blue check mark next to their names
• Improved places editing to fix categories, phone numbers and other info on iPad
• Fix for a problem that was causing News Feed to load slowly for some people
To be honest, the blue check mark identifiers for verified pages is long overdue. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen friends and family ‘Like’ fake celebrity or brand pages. Facebook is flooded with them—see for yourself in the above screenshot.
For most, this update won’t mean much. But if you tend to Like brand or celebrity pages, it may be worth getting just so you can quickly weed out the fakes. As usual, you can find the Facebook app, for both the iPhone and iPad, in the App Store for free.