Fresh off their Instagram acquisition, social networking giant Facebook acquired the team of developers behind the customer-loyalty application Tagtile.

“We’re happy to confirm that TagTile’s founders are joining Facebook, and that Facebook is acquiring substantially all of the company’s assets. We’ve admired the engineering team’s efforts for some time now and we’re excited to have them join Facebook,” the social network said in an emailed statement.

Tagtile will no longer accept new customers, but their service will continue to work for now.

Tagtile makes it easy for merchants to keep track of customers visiting their store and sending offers and notifcations directly to customers’ smartphones becomes a breeze with their Tagtile Kit.

The Tagtile Kit comes with the Tagtile Cube, which plugs into power outlets and doesn’t need an internet connection.  Customers just need to download the free Tagtile app for iOS and Android and when they visit a store with a Tagtile Cube, they just tap their phone on the Cube and they instantly earn tags.

Facebook for merchants

It looks like the social networking giant is banking on becoming the best partner for merchants, both online and off.  They just started rolling out Facebook Offers, which allows businesses to make offers for Facebook users through their News Feeds.  Kind of like a daily deals site, but Facebookers are the primary target.

If you look at the big picture here, Facebook is creating an arsenal of merchant weapons.  Facebook is one of the best ways for businesses to advertise since it has millions of users, and because of the new Facebook Offers, businesses have new options for creating buzz around their products.   The Tagtile Cube could eventually become the Facebook Cube, which would earn users Facebook coins if they visit participating merchants.

All of these may sound beneficial for merchants but it’s actually an ingenious ploy to promote Facebook and gain more users.  Facebook is clearly heading for world domination in the offline sector, tying mobile and virtual currency efforts as part of their end game.