Facebook launches its groupon killer

Facebook is launching its group buying service “Deals” today.

Here’s what’s special about Facebook Deals:

• While you’ll be able to receive offers by email, they will mostly show up in your Facebook news feed. Most group buying services rely on email first to send deals, but Facebook won’t.
• You’ll be buying the deals with Facebook Credits. This is pretty huge, as it’s the first time Facebook’s payments system will be used to buy physical goods and services and not just virtual goods. A lot of people are wondering if/when Facebook will go directly after PayPal and offer an online payments service; if it’s planning that, this is a good first step toward doing that.
• Facebook is partnering with other services like OpenTable. It will also rely on its own sales force to sell deals but it also partners with other companies that also have relationships with merchants, which is smart.