The news has been all over the internet about Facebook’s new Places check-in application. It remains to be seen exactly how this will affect local businesses. It may have no more affect than Four Square– there are a lot of great ways to use it for marketing, but it won’t hurt you too much if you choose not to participate.

On the other hand, there is some talk that Facebook Places is actually designed to take on Google Places. There’s also some chatter that Places will eventually replace Facebook business pages for the most part. If that’s true, then local businesses will want to make sure that they claim their Facebook Places listing to insure that any information about their business is correct. The good news is that some random person can’t claim your Places listing, as the claim process is pretty specific. You receive a phone call giving you a code at the number listed for your business or you will be required to provide documentation that the business is really yours.

In case you’re wondering how to claim your Facebook Places list, you’ll need an iPhone, or you’ll need to go to touch.facebook.com with your non-iPhone mobile phone. You’ll need to be at your business location. Do NOT check in from home, unless you have a home business, as Facebook will tag wherever you are as the location of the business. From there, the process is pretty easy. Check in at your location, and you will be asked “Is This Your Business?”. Then, you just need to follow the instructions moving forward from there.

If you’ve claimed your Places listing with Facebook, leave a comment and let us know how the process went.