Facebook Deals, which made its debut in November in the United States, has now become available in Canada and five European countries viz. France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Users of the world's most popular social-networking site can "check-in" with Facebook Deals using their mobiles to avail a variety of offers from local shops.

Facebook Deals is a part of location-based service, called Facebook Places. The new feature allows shoppers to enjoy discounts by mentioning a store/business to their friends or relatives.

Participating retailers offer Facebook users one-time discounts, loyalty deals for frequent customers, and ways of letting businesses to donate to special causes.

For the time being, the service is free. However, the service could allow Facebook to benefits from some increase in advertising from its partner retailers.

Speaking on the topic, Facebook director for Local Emily White said, "It is free at the moment. We would not shut the door on revenue sharing in the future, so who knows?"

Currently, the service is available only via iPhones and Android phones but it will be expanded to others cell-phones in the not very distant future.

Facebook has more than half a billion users around the globe.