Shelly Palmer

Facebook experiments with giving shoppers free Wi-Fi

Facebook

Facebook is hooking businesses near its Menlo Park, California headquarters with routers to test a free Wi-Fi program, according to the Los Angeles Times. To access the free Wi-Fi, users simply have to use the social network’s “Check-in” feature. Once that’s done, they will be brought to the business’ Facebook page and then allowed onto the network. The LATimes reports that the businesses have to pay for the Internet service on their own, but Facebook is giving out the routers for free. Facebook’s experiment is intriguing because it’s a very smart way to lure people over to Facebook pages to see promotions and most importantly, advertisements. It also gets more people into physical stores. It isn’t Google Fiber, but if more stores start offering free Facebook Wi-Fi, their foot traffic could see an uptick. Read the full story at Boy Genius Report: http://bgr.com/2012/11/07/facebook-free-wifi/