LivingSocial acquires BuyYourFriendaDrink.com

LivingSocial.com, a social network where users can review, share and organize their favorite places, products and entertainment vehicles, has acquired BuyYourFriendaDrink.com (BYFAD), an e-commerce site that allows users to buy gift certificates for friends towards any of the bars in the BYFAD network.

Tim O'Shaughnessy, CEO and co-founder of LivingSocial said the site can also be used for marketers in the beer, wine and spirits industries looking for a different product sampling option than sending out liquor reps to bars.

“A brand could hold an event at a bar and send out invitations and promotional codes online,” he explained, “[After redeeming the code] then we can more easily track who from the site came to try the product.”

Users could, in turn, review the product on LivingSocial.

O'Shaughnessy said this gives alcohol marketers access to Living Social's network of 20 million passionate consumers.

“For example, if you were Bud Light looking to promote Bud Light Lime, we could tell them ‘LivingSocial has 110,000 Corona drinkers,'” he said. Those users could then sign up to try a free Bud Light Lime and BYFAD could track the redemption and fulfillment.  

Currently BYFAD's network consists of about 300 bars in select markets in 16 states. Users can opt for a gift card sent though the mail, an e-mail printout or a mobile text code to redeem drinks. It was founded in 2007.

LivingSocial also has a strong Facebook presence, running numerous applications within the network. It has also been cataloged on MySpace, Bebo, Hi5 and Orkut.