Facebook launches ‘Deals’

Here at WMpS we like to keep up to date on the latest social networking news and were particularly surprised at Facebook’s latest announcement! After Google and Microsoft both released smart phones in the past year, we expected that Facebook would be soon to follow in their footsteps. It turns out that their latest announcement was all about Facebook Places and the mobile platform, and what an exciting announcement it was!

At 11:12 yesterday morning, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook places is soon to include ‘Deals’ whereby a user checks in to a location, enabling them to view local deals on offer. The user then checks in to their desired place to ‘claim’ their deal and it is posted on their wall for their use and to share with their friends.

At present ‘Deals’ is being rolled out across the US and will be expanding over time, at least we hope so as we can’t wait to get our hands on this and find some good local deals through Facebook rather than having to hop onto another app or use another voucher site!

Deals will also provide customers with brand loyalty as the return to check in again and receive further discount codes to use in their chosen location. Merchants who participate will also benefit from increased traffic and brand recognition such as Gap who are offering the first 10,000 customers to check in a free pair of jeans and subsequent check ins a 40% discount.

Is this the end of Foursquare?

Through the use of a challenge to accumulate badges, become the mayor of their location by checking in the most times and receiving offers from selected partners, Foursquare provides users with an incentive to use their check-in service. When Facebook Places emerged into the market, great speculation occurred on whether this would be the end for Foursquare. However, Facebook Places as it was lacked incentive and caused many users worries over security and privacy.

So, although Foursquare did survive the last hit from Facebook, will it survive Facebook Deals? I am not convinced. Now that people can not only use all the existing features but also check-in and get local deals through Facebook, it is now the social network that does everything plus a little bit more.

Considering that Foursquare has just 3 million users compared to the 200 million people that actively use Facebook mobile, it is going to be more of a vested interest for a business to establish a presence on Facebook rather than Foursquare. Perhaps Foursquare will continue to exist, but I am not entirely sure how it could expand to gain higher appeal than the biggest social network to date.