If you have suddenly noticed the ratings on your Facebook page vanish, Facebook is considering it a “feature”.  Facebook has removed ratings from all Facebook Pages for Pages that fdo not have a physical address listed according to Inside Facebook.

The Facebook help pages have been changed to reflect the ratings change, with advice on how to show ratings.

To let people add star ratings and reviews to your Page, you’ll need to choose Local Business for your Page’s category and add your business address to the Page. You can choose your Page’s category when you create a Page, or if you’ve already created a Page, you can change your Page’s category.

Ratings were definitely being abused by Facebook page owners so it isn’t surprising that Facebook  was going to do something to crack down on it, however many people didn’t expect it would come in the form of removing ratings from all Facebook pages without a physical address.

Of course, this could mean an upsurge of those trying to attach physical addresses to their Pages, even without a true business at the location.  While using temporary office locations and co-share spaces was a trick people were using to appear on Google Maps listings until Google began cracking down on it, I suspect Facebook users will be trying it out to see if it can get ratings back that way.

Do you have a physical address but never actually added it to your Facebook page?  It is unclear if those Pages can get those ratings back or if they are lost for good.