Facebook Deals is the Real Deal
The location-based service segment of social media will never be the same. Today, Facebook launched Deals, a simple way for businesses to create incentives for customers that "check-in" using Facebook Places.
This is similar to the programs that you might see on Foursquare or Gowalla, but with Facebook's reach in terms of consumer and business adoption, Deals could be a winner.
There are a couple of videos that explain the deal behind Facebook deals. The first is from the Facebook Marketing Solutions page that gives the overview. The second, is more detailed and provides users with insights in terms of what sort of deals can be created and how to go upon doing so.
Deals is being launched initially with a slew of brands and institutions, ranging from the Gap, McDonald's, North Face, Starbucks and even a couple of professional sports teams.
The types of deals, of course, will vary per the brand, but the Gap is offering a free pair of jeans to the first 10,000 people to check in at a Gap before November 5th.
Those businesses that have deals, will be flagged with a yellow coupon icon and all users have to do to get the deals is click through to it. Once the user has the coupon, he or she has to show it at the point of sale and then it's redeemed.
Of course, this isn't anything new to Foursquare users, but with well over 500 million users, Facebook Places, now injected with Deals, will push location-based services mainstream.
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