In the next few weeks, Facebook is expected to debut its Deals service in Austin, Texas, Atlanta, Dallas, San Diego and San Francisco, reports Internet Retailer. "To encourage what it calls social
discovery -- that is, one consumer learning about something via Facebook's newsfeed -- Facebook will highlight in the news feed if a consumer clicks that he is interested in purchasing a deal, as well
as if he bought a deal."
As Emily White, Facebook's director of local, tells Internet Retailer: "The fact that every step of the process -- from interacting with the deal, booking the
deal and experiencing the deal -- is tied to friends makes it more likely that you'll have a positive experience with the business and revisit it again."
The effort directly
challenges established deal services like Groupon and LivingSocial. Facebook plans to use its own back-end payments system to handle Deals, while consumers will be able to pay for Deals using Facebook
Credits as well as other payment methods.
Read the whole story at Internet Retailer »