When you activate something for 500 million accounts, it automatically takes on significance. The move by Facebook to add location-based service to its network is a sign the concept has arrived to the mainstream.

Facebook calls its service Places and it permits check-ins at a variety of, well, places. It strives to help you understand more about your Facebook friends' preferences and traits of consumption and activity.

It complements, rather than competes with, existing services like Foursquare and Gowalla, and its implications for journalism are not revolutionary as much as they're further impetus to get in the game.

While check-ins are bound to become a commodity in the time ahead --- particularly as services provide it more readily --- the rich stream of data that comes from them will be very useful for all companies in the information business.

Journalism will benefit in understanding more about events and places from the user base willing to give access to their locations. But the stream of behavioural data will be even more important.

The Old Media New Tricks site offers three tips for news organizations looking to enter the location-based social media sphere. They're basic, smart and compelling.

1. Create multimedia tours with a raft of local landmarks and must-do things.
2. Post links to reviews on location pages.
3. Participate in sales initiatives on location-based sites.

As location-based media develops in the months ahead, news organizations will need to examine how --- and not if --- they participate.