 When Facebook launched its new Deals feature yesterday, it had already lined up a handful of companies to start beta testing the new service. Doyne said one of the advantages of Facebook Places is that Gap will be able to do more than just offer nation-wide deals; they'll be able to set up localized promotions as well. And while the Gap used Groupon in September to offer coupons entitling customers to $50 worth of merchandise for $25, Groupon can't compete with Facebook in terms of total numbers of users. "Now that Facebook, with 200 million mobile users, and over 500 million [total users], has invested a lot in this space, you know that you have to put more time and energy into figuring out social and mobile." If you’re a national brand trying to connect with customers, which network is likely to deliver the impact you're looking for?
– Facebook rolled out some new mobile features yesterday, most notably “Facebook Deals,” a kind of mashup of Foursquare/Gowalla, and Groupon. Users can check in on Facebook Places and get location-sensitive deals from nearby merchants. The Gap, for example, will give out a free pair of jeans to the first 10,000 people who check in at one of its stores tomorrow, Fast Company reports. There will also be tools to allow third-party developers to make apps using Facebook’s location services. The features seem nifty enough, but they could utterly doom the scrappy startups that pioneered these ideas, E.B. Boyd writes. Foursquare, for example, has 4-5 million users to Facebook’s 500 million. “If you’re a national brand trying to connect with customers, which network is likely to deliver the impact you're looking for?” But the little guys are defiant. Foursquare pointed on that it was growing rapidly, and Groupon said Deals was “a different product that serves a different need.” If the smaller sites can focus on quality over quantity, they might make it.