Daily deal sites Groupon and LivingSocial may have finally met their match. Today American Express and Facebook launched the AmEx Link, Like, Love platform that is generating quite the buzz in the digital business world—and rightfully so. (You can read more on the platform in USA Today, TechCrunch and Fast Company.)

Boston-based (and CTP neighbor) Brand Networks is the developer behind the application, and having read a few articles so far on the launch I have yet to see them receive any ink for their work. Well, I wanted to make sure to give credit where credit is due (and, kudos!), but most of all I’m left wondering, “How had no one thought of this before?”

So what does this alliterative application mean for consumers? Link, Like, Love allows people to link their AmEx directly to their Facebook account, which will then provide them with special offers and discounts directly to their card. Essentially, it’s paperless coupons capitalizing upon a method of payment already employed by 90 million cardholders. Imagine the amount of information AmEx is now able to gather on its users, beyond shopping habits. (Scary, right?)

Of the 90 million AmEx cardholders, the American Express Facebook page only has 2 million fans (including myself, a non-American Express cardholder). A huge number, but that’s barely over 2% of its customer base. AmEx no longer wanted to be thought of as “your father’s credit card,” so they met the younger demographic in its space. Smart move number one by American Express.

Smart move number two? Capitalizing upon something that’s relevant to the younger audience: discounts. Now, as an active Groupon, LivingSocial, RueLaLa, “refuse to pay for something full-price since I know it will soon go on sale” shopper, this is the part I’m most intrigued by. Clearly this is a great opportunity for retail outlets and restaurants, but only time will tell how people will respond to having their shopping habits and their social activity directly linked. But as we all know, American Express packs a pretty hard punch when it comes to driving consumer behavior, so the benefits to companies getting involved could be extraordinary.

I’m curious to see how many other companies are now able to follow suit, but I have a feeling Amex may own this space for a while. By the sole fact of being a credit card company, AmEx completely boxes out the majority of other companies out there that might have the technological and business know-how capabilities to compete, but lack the credit card consumer base. More importantly, how many other credit card companies will be willing to invest the time and money into developing something as robust as this?

Well played, American Express.