Odeon has become the first UK cinema chain to partner with Facebook Deals, rewarding customers with free popcorn.

Movie-goers who check in at participating Odeon cinemas using Facebook Places will get a free box of popcorn, which they can claim with a voucher on their smartphones.

The offer runs until the end of March or until 1,000 small popcorn boxes have been claimed. Each participating cinema has been allocated 50 boxes.

Odeon has previously used location-based services to distribute customer offers. In 2009 it launched a two-month Bluetooth campaign and more recently offered customers cut price tickets when they used the Vouchercloud app.

Luke Vetere, sales and marketing director of Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group said: “We’re hugely excited about using social media to engage with film fans and proud to be the first cinema chain to use the Facebook Deals platform to reward customers.”

The move follows the launch of rival cinema Vue's Facebook booking app in early January.