Facebook will discontinue its Deals program in the coming weeks, probably a response to saturation in a deals market that Groupon and LivingSocial dominate.

The program was launched in April and tested in five cities, including Atlanta, Dallas and San Francisco. Last week, Facebook killed check-ins on its mobile app, essentially acknowledging that foursquare has won that space [ see our story ].

In June, Google launched Google Offers in Portland. Offers is now available in six areas and debuting soon in over 30 cities from Omaha to Orlando, up from 16 when we published this story.

"We think there is a lot of power in a social approach to driving people into local businesses," Facebook said in a statement to Reuters. "We've learned a lot from our test and we'll continue to evaluate how to best serve local businesses."

Facebook will continue to offer "check-in deals," which allow restaurants and businesses to offer deals to customers who check in via Facebook.

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