Facebook New Places App: Deals

The social media giant made the mobile “check-in” application available to major merchants and thousands of small/mid-size businesses in the United States.

Facebook Deals purpose is to connect users of Facebook Places to deals/specials from: 24 Hour Fitness, Gap and Palms Casino Resort- to name a few. Deals are only available through Facebook’s iPhone app or touch.facebook.com. Android users can now check into Places but not Deals.

The service is an extension of Places, which lets smart-phone owners with Facebook accounts share their exact location and find where friends are. Now, people will be notified of discounts/deals at selected merchants near them.

When a user logs into Facebook, he/she can look for a list of “nearby places,” some may or may not have a yellow price tag or sticky to the right of them- that’s a deal. Open it by clicking. There are four kinds of deals: individual deals, loyalty deals, friend deals and charity deals. There’s even a UI that shows “punches” on a virtual card for loyalty deals, Facebook states, with discounts for those users who bring new friends and customers.