What is it?
Facebook Deals launched in five US Cities yesterday, allowing users to see Groupon-like deals in their newsfeeds. As you can see in the screen-cap below, once you opt into Deals it’s simple and easy to share a Deal with a friend or pay to redeem via a credit card of Facebook Credits.
How Do I Get It?
To have access to Deals, go to: http://www.facebook.com/deals, once you’re already signed into Facebook. Currently Deals are only available in Atlanta, Dallas, Austin, San Diego and San Francisco so if you don’t live in one of those cities you’ll only see deals for those places at this time.
What Does it Mean?
A primary (and game changing) aspect of Facebook’s offering is the fact that Deals lets you see what other friends have purchased or shared. As it’s doing with search, Facebook wants to leverage your social graph to increase the likelihood that you’ll purchase and share Deals. This feature moves the focus from saving money to, as Fast Company reports: “Emphasizing social experiences, things friends can do together—think: surfing, whitewater kayaking…(and) that obviates the need for them to compete with other services on the depth of its discounts.”
Whether businesses make money using these types of services is critical to the long-term success of Deals, Groupon or Living Social. The question remains—is it valuable to offer a Deal via one of these services in terms of the cost of acquiring a customer? Facebook’s offering provides more of an advertising and buzz opportunity via sharing so its likely businesses will opt for Facebook over competitors.
What do you think? If you have a small business, do you use a deals site? If so, what successes or challenges have you had? Email [email protected]
and let me know so I can do a follow up to this piece.
Other resources:
- How to Create a Facebook Deal – The official Facebook You Tube site has a number of great tutorials along these lines.
- Linking Status With Stuff – Google Latitude Offers Ability for Users to Check In
- You Don’t Have To Like All Your Facebook Fans
- Why Brands Should Use Facebook Questions