Facebook Deals launches in the UK, gives you free stuff

Facebook Places on the iPhone app always seemed a bit pointless. You could check in to places, telling your friends where you are and who you're with. Great for stalkers, bad for loners who see you having a whale of a time while they're at home with their mums.

Anyway, Places just got a lot better today, with the launch of Facebook Deals, which promises to offer incentives, discounts and free offers to anyone who checks in at a certain place.

Say you go to Starbucks, you check in, and now you're given the chance to claim a free coffee by showing your iPhone to the staff. Obviously Deals will live or die on the range and quality of participating companies.

Alton Towers theme park is offering an exclusive day out for anyone who checks in on February 18th, and you can take three friends with you for free! YO! Sushi is giving away masses of free food to customers who check in at their stores.

I really love this idea and it take Facebook right into the firing line of Foursquare, the checking-in app that has offered incentives to its users for some time. If offers of free drinks and sandwiches at the likes of Starbucks continue, then I'll definitely be checking in a lot more than I currently do.

It's not just about giving away free stuff, Argos and Benetton have pledged to give £1 and £2 respectively to charity every time someone checks into their stores on Facebook.

Deals is free for both customers and retailers, while Facebook says it won't be taking any revenue from the service. Being free, I can see a lot of retailers getting involved with Facebook Deals, maybe offering incentives or a sort of virtual loyalty card to frequent customers.

Deals could be huge for Facebook, as according to the BBC, a third of the social network's 650million members access the site on a mobile device. 

I can't wait for more companies to embrace Deals

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