I'm not sure how many of you have used Foursquare or Gowalla but Facebook is going head to head with them after releasing Facebook Places. I had heard of Foursquare but I had never heard of Gowalla until reading an article on macworld today. It's hard to keep up with all the news that surrounds us, am I falling behind? Am I experiencing information overload? Do I have too much going on?
While reading the article "Three ways business can take advantage of Facebook Places" (http://www.macworld.com/article/153549/2010/08/facebookplaces.html) I figured that I should share the information with my customers. So yesterday when the iPhone Facebook update came out I updated. I didn't know that a major update was the new Facebook Places feature. The new UI looks really good and has some nice features. I like the way the update feature works now where you have to pull down to update, it's different. After the update I saw this "Places" feature. Humm, what's this? I tried to see where I was, but Central Point Networks was not part of the "Facebook Places" system. So I added it, thinking nothing of it I went on with my day. Later on I was a Qdobo thought, "I could tell the world where I am" so I jumped on Facebook and updated my location to find one of my friends was in NYC! I was jealous because I so want to goto NYC and see what it's all about!
So, in reading the macworld article they reference that there is a "way" or "process" to claim your business on Facebook Places. I'm not sure what value add there is to claiming your business. I tried to claim Central Point Networks, but you have to submit a copy of your Articles of Certificate of Incorporation, Certificate of Formation, Local Business License or Better Business Bureau Accreditation. One of these have to be attached to the "Claim Place" form.
I will make a followup post once I Claim my business on Facebook and let you know what features are enabled. I'm hoping that business will have the ability to see who's visiting their locations.
