Online Coupons, Facebook Deals | featured news

What happens when you cross the world's largest social network with one of the hottest business models in e-commerce? Facebook wants to find out. Facebook is launching a deals program Tuesday in five U.S. cities, following on the popularity of Groupon and other services that offer deep discounts - for example: $50 worth of food at a local eatery for $25.

Whoops.Looks like The New York Times has a little embargo breaking situation on their hands. (Which we love -- chaos!) They've just put up a story with the URL: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/25/latest-rival-to-groupon-livingsocial-facebook-embargo-till-midnight/ (bolding mine). That page is obviously no longer found, but it was live for a bit. And it is a big one: Facebook's Groupon/LivingSocial "killer".

Facebook is making a big announcement today to the media — according to a tweet from tech blogger Robert Scoble — and many are expecting the social network to launch its own coupon service, Facebook Deals.