At a company event in London this morning, Facebook has announced the launch of Places Deals, a service that allows people to check-in to business locations using their smartphone in order to avail of special offers, in the UK and parts of western Europe.
This is the first Facebook Places Deals country expansion since the service first launched in the US last November, with six new countries in total now able to avail of the service – Canada, and five European countries – the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.
There are four types of deals available which Facebook details in a blog post. They are:
- Charity Deals that give to a good cause
- Friend Deals where you get awarded for bringing friends to a location
- Individual Deals were businesses give away items
- Loyalty Deals to gain loyalty points
Companies that have partnered for the UK launch include Starbucks, where customers can receive a free coffee upon check-in, and Mazda, who are offering 20% off an MX-5 car and a chance to win one of five possible cars. Other launch partners include Debenhams, Argos, Alton Towers, and O2.
Unfortunately Facebook Places is still not available in Ireland yet, but we do expect it to launch very soon.