New to the apps market is ’Facebook places‘, similar to the GroupOn business model.

Some say ‘Facebook places’ has not proved to be the success they hoped for. It works by allowing users to ‘check-in’ and thus notify everyone that they are in a certain place. Other than shoving it down friends’ throats that you are currently at the Emirates or the O2 arena and therefore have a better social life than them, the app doesn’t provide much.

However, on the flip side the app will now give people the chance to check-in and find out the best deals in their vicinity. For instance, the say you’ve arrived at St. Pancras International and are hungry. Well, by checking-in you can immediately be brought up to speed with the latest special offers at the nearby shops, cafés and restaurants.

Similar concepts are being pioneered in the US, and are set to be available to smartphone users like the iPhone, Blackberry and Android. It is a good idea, since websites which offer the chance to get coupons and discounts (such as GroupOn) have become increasingly popular. In fact Google recently offered around £6bn to take over GroupOn, before it decided to launch something similar to the Facebook app.