This week has seen the US launch of the new model for Facebook Places as businesses look to make the most of the Facebook popularity and the ‘must-have’ geolocation technology.

Many in sport will be saying so what but it should not be dismissed so quickly.  We have talked on here many times about how sport could, and should, be making bigger moves into location devices.  Now there is a good reason to do so.

Before there has been the case that Foursquare and Gowalla are too small in the UK to be of much benefit.  But you add Facebook’s popularity and everyday use among millions of UK users then you have something quite potent.

We’re probably not going to see it here until next year but will be interesting to see which companies sign up in the lead up to it.  With Facebook being the must-have digital platform for marketers then am sure some big names will be among them.

This could work very well for sports retailers, ticketing, food & beverage sales, hotels, club shops and many more.  I for one will be keeping an eye on the US to see which sports make a move with it and what success they have.

Check out the official video below which will explain more about how it will work.