(Image source: WTF Man)

BY TRACY PFEIFFER

ANCHOR CHRISTY LEWIS

You're watching multisource tech news analysis from Newsy.

The deal is dead.

That’s Facebook’s Deals-- a Groupon competitor-- which the company axed after a limited test period.

Here’s Portland’s KATU with more.

“The Deals program was being tested in cities like Atlanta, Dallas, San Diego, San Francisco. It works similar to Groupon, offering daily discounts.”

GigaOM’s Ryan Kim says-- Facebook had the right cards, so it’s a surprise the company folded.

“It’s an interesting turn of events considering how much interest went into Facebook’s offers effort. We talked about ... the power of Facebook Deals because of how social it could be, as opposed to Groupon and Living Social. But it looks like the deals business is harder than we thought, especially if it’s not unique enough.”

But a writer for All Things Digital argues-- there wasn’t really anything spectacular about Deals, so the axe-- makes sense.

“Deals was one of Facebook’s particularly undifferentiated products -- it was an almost perfect replica of offerings from Groupon, LivingSocial, Google and others. Facebook’s attempt at a novel twist was that its deals were things users could do with their friends, and that it syndicated deals from other providers... Users could also pay for Deals using Facebook Credits...”

ZDNet notes-- there’s been a bit of confusion over the dead Deals, since Facebook spokespeople have said-- Check-in Deals will still be around.

“Wait! ...When you told us earlier this week that Facebook had killed Facebook Places, you said that Check-in Deals wasn’t going away anytime soon. Don’t worry, that’s still correct. It’s important to note that there is a distinction between Check-in Deals (alive) ... and Facebook Deals (dead).”

Basically-- users can still tag themselves at various businesses-- and still get discounts-- if they’re being offered.

This check in and discount just won’t be through Facebook Places or Facebook Deals. (Video: CNET/Facebook)

As for the business model in general-- a blogger for The Wall Street Journal says, Facebook’s white flag is a good sign for rivals Groupon and LivingSocial.

“...the exit of giant Facebook could also help underscore their arguments that copycats will die off. Local businesses have been feeling increasingly overwhelmed by the number of deals sites looking for their business. ...All eyes now will be on what happens to Google’s own nascent local deals business.”

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