 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Washington (AFP) April 26, 2011 Facebook began offering a deals program on Tuesday similar to the online bargains made popular by Groupon, LivingSocial and other companies. Deals on Facebook are initially only available in five US cities -- Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, San Diego, and San Francisco -- but the social network said it hopes to extend the feature to other cities in the future. The move is the latest bid by the Palo Alto, California-based social network to expand its revenue stream beyond advertising and an attempt to carve out a niche in the rapidly growing online bargain space. Chicago-based Groupon, which offers subscribers coupons for discounts on a broad range of consumer goods and services, has enjoyed a spectacular rise since its founding in 2008 and rejected a reported $5 billion takeover offer from Google last year. Google is currently testing its own online coupon program, Google Offers, in Portland, Oregon. While many of the offers on Groupon involve solo activities or purchases, Facebook, which has more than 500 million members, said its deals program will emphasize group activities. "While many Deals on Facebook offer discounts, it's more important to us that you find interesting experiences around you to do with friends," Emily White, director of local at Facebook, said in a blog post. "We've worked with partners and local businesses to help deliver the best social activities," White said. "And once you've found a deal you like, having the deal on Facebook makes it easy to share, buy and plan with your friends." An example of an upcoming deal, Facebook said, is tickets, backstage passes and a catered dinner for upcoming concerts in Austin. Facebook said members of the social network can be informed about deals through email updates on with a Deals tab on their home page. If a Facebook friend buys or "likes" a particular deal, that will show up in the News Feed of their online friends. Facebook said deals from 11 other companies would be available through the social network's program. Among the companies partnering with Facebook are Gilt City, HomeRun, OpenTable, Plum District, PopSugar City, ReachLocal and Tippr.
Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Global Trade News
ASEAN calls for Thai, Cambodia talks Bangkok (UPI) Apr 25, 2011 The head of the Association of South East Asian Nations called on Thailand and Cambodia to cease fighting and negotiate a settlement to their border dispute. ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan, who is also a former foreign minister of Thailand, added his voice to that of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in an appeal for both countries to show restraint and stop fighting that claim ... read more |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook
