The title of this post is the name of a classic book by Dr. Seuss, but it also refers to the introduction by Facebook of its newest service, Places.

Places is Facebook’s long-awaited entry into the location-based services marketplace. As I’ve discussed previously, this area is an outgrowth of the social networking/smartphone connection and it’s quickly becoming the next major growth sector. Facebook’s Places is an attempt to counter the momentum of such services as Foursquare and Gowalla, if not crush it altogether, as well as capitalize on user activity in local over the long term.

As with Foursquare and Gowalla, Places enables users to “check in” at places and tell their friends where they are. The difference, of course, is Places users can seamlessly alert their friends on Facebook. Attempting to distinguish Places from competitors, Michael Sharon, the Places product manager, tells The New York Times:

“This is not a service to broadcast your location at all times, but rather one to share where you are, who you are with, when you want to. It lets you find friends that are nearby and help you discover nearby places.”

Not surprisingly, Foursquare and Gowalla told The Times that they see Places “as a complement to their own services and as an opportunity to gain additional distribution.” Foursquare actually was present at Facebook’s headquarters for the news conference announcing Places – so at least for the present time, the two companies are playing nice.

Facebook’s move comes at a time when it is increasingly positioning itself against Google in what could be the mother of all Internet battles. With its 500-million user base, anything new Facebook offers could have widespread adoption. “Facebook’s long-term goal with Places appears to be to capture the largely untapped advertising opportunity that local and small businesses offer,” says The Times, although Facebook says it currently has no advertising products for Places. Google, of course, generates most of its income from ads; in fact, AdWords is responsible for over 90 percent of Google’s revenues.

Walter Mossberg, the renowned technology reviewer for The Wall Street Journal, said his test of Places showed that it was “easy to use and reliable, with mostly logical privacy controls, an issue on which Facebook has been bruised in the past.” He does mention, however, that Places is “more stripped down and leaves out some attractive features others [like Foursquare and Gowalla] include.”

But it isn’t really the features that matter, as much as the fact that Facebook is now squarely in the location-based game. That could be good or bad for services like Foursquare. However, Places is definitely one more piece of evidence that Facebook intends to face off with Google head on. Google is making the inevitable move towards social networking features and trying to attract small businesses through location-based initiatives. Places is clearly focused on the small business market as well, because it is expected to help drive consumers to local businesses and will likely take advantage of developing options like pushing coupons or offers to users as they check in.

At the moment, Places is in early stage availability in the U.S. and available only on the iPhone. That will surely change as Places rolls out. And Places will just as surely add fuel to the fire in the Facebook-Google battle.