According to web-related news site The Next Web, Facebook has announced their intentions to launch a Groupon-inspired ecommerce service that would allow businesses to offer discounts and products to their followers. With a member base of several hundred million, this move essentially opens up a massively new stream of marketing which could prove to be a substantial blow to Groupon, LivingSocial and similar sites.

Facebook will begin with several small business in select cities for blowing the gates wide open. It's an intimidating initiative to be sure, but one that has already seen some exposure in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK since early 2011 as Facebook Deals. Deals works much like a cross between sites like Groupon and FourSquare where users can "check in" on Facebook at specific locations to receive any special deals that might be available there.