Facedeals, which uses photos uploaded to Facebook to spot shoppers, but has not been developed with Facebook, requires users to have authorised the service through the Facedeals Facebook app.
“Facebook check-ins are a powerful mechanism for businesses to deliver discounts to loyal customers, yet few businesses and fewer customers have realized it,” said Nashville-based company Redpepper.
“A search for businesses with active deals in our area turned up a measly six offers.
“The odds we’ll ever be at one of those six spots are low – a strip club and photography studio among them – and the incentives for a check-in are not nearly enticing enough for us to take the time.
“So we set out to evolve the check-in and sweeten the deal, making both irresistible.”
To show how the system would work the company behind the camera has released a video depicting a group of friends entering a bar, they’re recognised by the camera and are then text deals for cheap drinks to their phones.
Some Facebook users have reacted with alarm and scorn to the idea:
“Somewhere, not very distant, I can hear HAL & Skynet whispering words of encouragement,” said one commenter on The Daily Mail.
“Haha, enjoy your police state! Seriously, it’s pretty hiliarious [sic] the way this is going. If the government tried to do something like this, everyone would scream about how wrong it is. The second a company does it though, oh, it’s innovative,” said another.
Image via Getty