Facebook Launches Deals to Compete With Groupon

Facebook's anticipated 'Groupon-killer' offering group-based local coupon deals reportedly launches happening Tuesday in five pilot cities in the U.S. including Capital of Georgia, Austin, Dallas, San Diego and San Francisco. The service is named Facebook Deals–the middle-aged Facebook Deals announced in November appears to be renamed Check-In Deals–and will focus on offer discounts for group activities much as such as 50 percentage bump off movie tickets for quadruplet or 75 percent off bowling for 6. You will be able to buy local deals victimization your charge card OR Facebook credits, according to The Recent York Times. You bequeath and so mark out a voucher that you can take with you to ransom your deal.

The Portion out With Deals

Just equal anything else on Facebook you will be able to 'Like' or share a particular Facebook Deal through your News Feed. You can besides publish a story to your News Feed in for your friends to see if you buy out a deal. It's not yet clear if Facebook Deals will operate similar to Groupon and Living Social where a deal has to reach a specified number of buyers before the discount goes into effect.

Besides appearing in your News Feed, you will be able to find a link to deals in the left navigation column of the Facebook pages for individual local businesses. You will also have access to a all-round deals Page for your area via a deals link in the left hand navigation chromatography column of your Facebook splashboard. If that's not decent get by access for you so you can also sign dormy for email updates here.

With over 600 million people now using Facebook general, the friendly network has a large audience that should prove very enticing for businesses looking to attract new customers. And Facebook is fashioning some big claims more or less its newfangled Deals sport promising it will be better than discounts you uncovering on Groupon operating room Living Social. "You South Korean won't get your legs waxed with friends," Emily White, Facebook's director of topical operations, told The Financial Multiplication in Marching music. "You dine out, you go to concerts, you act outdoor activities. We want to make sure those experiences are maximized."

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Facebook isn't the exclusive newcomer to social purchasing. Google recently launched a public beta of its Offers service in Portland, Oregon (and is already being sued for manifest infringement all over the new service). Amazon invested $175 million in Realistic Social in December, and Squarely in Mar expanded the deals businesses terminate offer through the position-based check-in service.

Facebook has partnered with other services offering deals for its expanding upon of Facebook Deals including OpenTable, PopSugarCity and Zozi.

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