Today Facebook is launching its UK/Europe Places Deal and all leading tech journalists are at the launch event and all a twitter about it. The news is simple: having launched in the US last year, it’s now Europe’s turn for Facebook Places Deals.

Yet I’m trying to sift out anything really exciting from this news. Essentially, it is VoucherCloud meets Groupon, just on Facebook. The only difference is that Facebook will have greater clout in what it can negotiate with big European brands, which is better for the consumer.

Other than that, it’s another in a long line of proof points that consumers are increasingly going mobile when it comes to accessing information and purchasing stuff (for want of a better word). Surely, that news boat has already passed…

So far, the live updates haven’t been that informative. I can only assume because the news is basically a straightforward launch. Yet, because it is Facebook, it manages to get all the top journalists there and all a flutter about what is an unsurprising development for the company.

It’s not revolutionary, nor is it unexpected, and therefore not necessarily worth the many tweets or the bare essentials news articles on the event, which could have been done via a PA pick up or a simple (god forbid) press release.

What is surprising is the willingness of these normally hardened journalists to pander so to Facebook; has the unthinkable happened? Is this a case of Facebook saying ‘jump’, and the journalists responding ‘how high’?

Despite my initial fears, I’m proved wrong – I very much enjoyed the FT’s Tim Bradshaw real-time (sarcastic) commentary on twitter:

@tim “It’s incredibly easy” Facebook says as they explain it slowly again for the journos

@tim Joanna Shields: “for the 1st time people want to check in and tell people where they are.” umm….

Reassuring to say the least.