Without a doubt, the office favorite here at Axiom is Foursquare. If any of us use Facebook Places, it's rare and infrequent--in opposition to some staffers' obsessions with checking in daily on Foursquare. First Facebook took MySpace, then it took our beloved chatting services MSN & AOL, and now we're about to witness its first real attempt to take down our favorite location-based social network.
So what did Facebook Places do to make us take a closer look? They combined it with our nation's newest obsession: local deals. Simply titled "Deals," the service will provide four different special offers available only through Facebook Places. Individual Deals will offer a single deal just for you, while Friend Deals will allow you and a buddy to be in on the savings. Loyalty Deals will be similar to Foursquare Mayorships for frequent customers, and Charity Deals will allow you to donate to a particular cause.
And of course, in true Facebook fashion, every time you cash in on a deal it pops up on your newsfeed.
What does this all boil down to? Where Foursquare held the monopoly in the location-based marketing arena, they now have a direct deals competitor with a social networking giant. Sure, Facebook doesn't have the bragging rights that can only come from a legit Foursquare Mayorship, but with brands like Chipotle and GAP already signing onto Facebook Deals, there might be reason to switch.
