Is the "daily deals" phenomenon just a fad?

The easiest way to get people to use a service is to save them money. That fact has been the catalyst for the tremendous growth of Daily Deals group buying companies like Living Social and Groupon over the last couple of years. Will it continue to be hot the way that other aspects of social networking have or will it die as quickly as tie dye?

That’s the question that the folks over at GPlus tackled with the infographic below. In it, they take a look at these and other sites, comparing how large they’ve grown both online and through physical presence and try to determine what the future holds for this type of service. It’s a great idea, but will it last? Will it collapse under its own weight?

If it does, people will look at Groupon as having made one of the biggest business mistakes in history by not accepting Google’s $6 billion offer last year. Time will tell.