Facebook Places

For those of you who use Foursquare, you might find this interesting. Earlier today Facebook launched it's location based tool called 'Places', which allows user to ‘check-in’ to shops, restaurants, bars, etc, among other things -

• Tag the friends you're with so they can be part of your update.
• Appear in "Here Now" to friends and others nearby who are also checked in.
• Browse status updates of friends checked in nearby.
• After checking in, tap "Here Now" to see who else is checked in where you are.

What does this mean for businesses? Well, apparently businesses can 'claim' pages, which is particularly important for companies like Starbucks, etc. Facebook haven’t revealed whether this will be tied in with Facebook fanpages yet. I'll keep you posted.

UPDATE: Facebook Places can be linked to a Facebook Page by 'claiming' a place. You can do this via the 'is this your business?' link at the bottom of the place page.

For more info click here or watch the video below.