Facebook Places is Facebook’s attempt at dominating the location based social networking arena. It just came out this week, and while it is still being fully vetted for use by its members this site seems a little ho-hum. Facebook Places seems like kind of a disappointment so far for such a large venture by the largest social network in the world.

First, as far as I can tell Facebook does not seem to work fully with Blackberry, Droids, and other non-iPhone devices. I understand that a lot of people use iPhones, and at the same time I have to ask why release something if you can not distribute it correctly to millions of your users. Are we not as important as the mighty iPhone users? Why do we have to slog around with your workarounds?

Second, from what I have seen online and through my Blackberry browser this seem to be a little ho-hum. No real magic bullet that makes me want to stop using Foursquare, Yelp, Like List, or even Brightkite.

You can check your Newsfeed here, which seems redundant for those checking there Facebook app. I did like the fact that they included Facebook Events, because when you are on the go you can check where the event and what events are close to you at the moment. That might be the one saving grace for the entire project right now. I can actually visualize myself checking out the location of an event and putting it in my GPS before I go there.

Third, let us spend a little time on the idea itself: Facebook Places. You share with your friends where you are going. I have a feeling this is like Tweeting on Twitter that you are taking a shower. Everyone does it, and no one wants to hear about you doing it.

The reason I like doing it on Foursquare is because it is like a game. I get points and badges. By the way, I am now mayor of three different locations. Go me! At the same time, friends will find out where I am going because of this. I do not seem to think for most places that I go in a day that I would want to share it with others.

That in a nutshell is why I am not impressed with Facebook Places. There does not seem to be a convincing reason to use it at this time. In the end, I have to ask myself, why would I use Facebook Places when I already have other location based social networks, such as Foursquare, Like List, and Yelp?