In a move that brings the world’s dominant social network into direct competition with the daily-deal juggernaut Groupon, Facebook will launch ^[1] a new “Deals” program in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, San Diego, and San Francisco.

Facebook Deals previously launched in Europe (sort of an off-Broadway opening), and one particular element has led analysts such as ReadWriteWeb’s Martin Kirkpatrick spelling doom the existing daily deal sites. “Existing Daily Deals services make their money by charging retailers a cut from every discounted transaction,” Kirkpatrick observes. “At least in Europe, Facebook Deals offered deals for free. Free!”

Then there’s the small fact of Facebook’s massive user base. “Groupon and LivingSocial offer nothing but deals. Facebook puts deals in between pictures of your sister’s baby,” Kirkpatrick writes. “Which do you think you’ll click through more often, all other things being equal?” He’s obviously never seen a picture of our sister’s baby.