Facebook Bribing People With Gap To Use 'Places'

Having deep pockets certainly has its advantages. In the battle for how Facebook's Places will overtake Foursquare and become the dominant social media app for "checking in," Facebook has a new tactic: Bribery.

Today only, as part of its just-announced local Deals initiative, Facebook has partnered with Gap (which, let's face it, needs some good PR these days):

"This Friday we’re giving away 10,000 pairs of jeans! Check-in at any Men’s & Women’s Gap using Facebook Places and you could win*. Just show any Gap employee your check-in and you could score a free pair. If you’re too late don’t worry, we’ll let you shop with 40% off any regularly priced item."

With over 21,000 already confirmed as participating, "free stuff" appears as if it's still a successful marketing strategy. The * details the deal restrictions — one per checked-in customer, first come/first served and so on.