Facebook launches Local Deals

Facebook added new functionality last night to Places - Local Deals. Local deals is currently in beta and is only available to selected businesses. Businesses will be able to run special offers for users who check in to their business Place to drive loyalty, footfall and business.

Four types of deals are available:

Individual deals
Reward individual customers when they check in.

Friend deals
Reward groups of customers.

Loyalty deals
Reward customers when they visit a certain number of times.

Charity deals
Pledge to check in to charity when customers check in.

The new functionality will be rolling out in the US in the next few days, UK is expected follow shortly after. While the new functionality is exciting for Facebook, it is only following and slightly improving what other location based services such as foursquare and gowalla already offer. In fact while Facebook had said they wanted to partner with other location based services this move seems to put them in direct competition.

Places is still missing key functionality such as events and it is reluctant to talk to other businesses and brands to build unique and bespoke experiences. In addition it is susceptible to manipulation by computer savvy users. Business must bear these constraints in mind when planning their promotions.