Battle for "Local" Ramps up with Free Wifi for Facebook Check-ins

Facebook and Cisco have partnered up in the battle for "local" dollars by offering free Wifi for users that check-in at key merchants on facebook.

The goal for Facebook is to gather more local info data, i.e. where its users are spending time locally, that can then be used from an advertising perspective to gain more small business ad revenues.

Cisco and the small businesses themselves are giving customers an easy way to connect, luring in new customers, as well as direct information about who is visiting their stores. It will allow merchants to target ads directly at individuals frequenting their stores (much like foursquare).

This demonstrates another step forward in the battle to better understand consumer interactions at the local and small business level. The risk is that this move could alienate customers who are concerned about data privacy issues, in particular as advertising gets more and more tailored at the local level.

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