Facebook To Ax Deal Service

After a four-month run, Facebook has decided to end its Deals service. Launched in April, Deals was the social network's answer to popular coupon and deal websites like Groupon and Living Social. In a letter to Reuters, Facebook explained its reason for abandoning the online coupon game:

"After testing Deals for four months, we've decided to end our Deals product in the coming weeks. We think there is a lot of power in a social approach to driving people into local businesses. We've learned a lot from our test and we'll continue to evaluate how to best serve local businesses."

Though Deals wasn't not as robust a product as Groupon, many industry analysts are surprised to see Facebook give up on its Deals service The company plans to continue with its Check-In Deals service and will remain committed to linking consumers with local businesses through its Pages and Sponsored Stories.

[via Reuters]