UPDATE 6/9/10: This was reposted on Business Insider. Groupon has spent a vast fortune building two important barriers to entry in the group-buying space:  brand authority and distribution.  While that investment may hold off competition from newer daily deal services, there are existing media properties in each local market that have spent decades building their brand [...]

We’ve had our eye on the South’s largest hub of tastemakers and trendsetters for some time. Atlanta has emerged as a major player in the daily deal space, with ten deal services offering discounts every day, including national brands like Groupon and LivingSocial, as well as MyDailyThread and ScoutMob that are exclusive to Atlanta. Today [...]