If you build a successful business, online or off-line, it probably won’t be long before Facebook sees an opportunity for itself. The social network’s latest copycat is a Groupon-like discount service within the online deals market.
The service will start trialing in San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas, Atlanta, and Austin, Texas. It will form part of Facebook’s existing Deals program but this time Facebook staffers will be on hand to help businesses post deals and encourage Facebookers to share details of the deals. “Local businesses will be able to sign up to use this feature soon, and people will be able to find Deals in the coming weeks,” said Facebook.
The ‘daily-deals’ market in the US was worth $873 million last year and is dominated by Groupon and LivingSocial. However, estimates suggest the market could be worth $3.9 billion by 2015 and Facebook, with its unrivaled user base and eyeball count, wants a slice of the action.
Last week the social network announced its partnership with Warner Bros. to start renting movies. It is also said to be in talks with Skype to offer Web video calls to its users.
While Facebook made $2 billion in ad revenue last year, its recent $50 billion valuation is not based solely on its ad sales potential. It has, after all, the ability to market and sell anything it likes to over 600 million users. It’s anyone’s guess what it plans to sell next. Our money is on a postal delivery service to rival the likes of DHL.

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