One small step for Facebook, one little hop for retailers...

I don't think I'd be exaggerating if I said Facebook has changed the way people interact. Its lure has evolved by the convenience of communication. In recent years email revolutionised the way we communicate, followed by mobile phones and text messaging. Facebook married all of those things and more, and just happened to be the social network people agreed to stick to, such was the autonomy of the social web at the time. If Facebook were created today, I'm guessing it would be one of many networks that could interact. That's a whole other blog post though.

This morning Facebook is launching ‘Places Deals’ in the UK and Europe. Facebook users will be able to get discounts and special deals in shops, cafes and restaurants by checking in on Facebook Places on their smartphone. Now, I've used Places before to check in to a rugby match. I was interested to see if anyone else would see me there and check in too. There were a couple of people as it happens, although that was as far as my interest in it extended. What Facebook has done with Places Deals is to make this feature meaningful. If you check into a cafe you might get a free cup of coffee. If you check into a clothes shop you might find big discounts. Retailers might give money to charity whenever you check in.

The more cynical amongst us will probably assume this is yet another grab for our privacy, that there will be marketing lists everywhere being padded out with shopping trends. Who knows? Maybe? The less cynical will think that maybe retailers are just wanting to explore an evolving avenue of marketing and getting its consumers to spread the word amongst their friends. Yes, more likely.

I can't see this taking off overnight. However, I do see it as a small but significant step towards marrying our online social connections with a real, monetised world. Yes, there are other companies doing this. But the fact that Facebook has thrown its hat into the ring means that millions of people are going to find it harder and harder to separate their online and offline worlds.