Accommodation Finder Airbnb Now Uses Facebook to Help You Find a Better Place to Stay

With its brilliant photographs of the apartments in which there's a spare room for you, and in the context of one of the most gorgeous websites you've ever seen, Airbnb (www.airbnb.com) -- less than four years old -- has scored a smashing success, and now provides accommodations in nearly 11,000 cities in 180 countries. Your digs, as earlier noted, are almost always a room in an apartment occupied by a host or host family.

What sets off this renewed attention to Airbnb is an announcement from its RPR firm that an auxiliary program called "Social Connections" has just been created in association with Facebook Connect. Using the giant Facebook, one can apparently discover whether friends or acquaintances of yours have used the apartment you are considering. "By utilizing Facebook Connect," says the press release, "travelers can filter their search results to see places their friends have reviewed as well as their connections to hosts through mutual friendships, direct friendships, and school affiliations."

Those of you for whom Facebook is a daily presence will probably be able to scout out the Airbnb connection -- and doing so may greatly enliven your use of Airbnb.