Dive Brief:
- Facebook is adding new features to its flagship platform and app including a “Recommendations” bookmark, an improved Events bookmark and new ways to interact with local businesses, according to a company blog post.
- The new Recommendations bookmark is part of a tool that allows users to turn Recommendations 'on' for posts where they ask advice from friends and members of Groups they're in. The suggestions received from those posts are then collected and saved to the Recommendations bookmark.
- For interacting with local businesses, users can now order food, request appointments, get quotes and buy movie and concert tickets from business Pages.
Dive Insight:
The new features should be especially appealing to mobile users, who might now turn to Facebook as a one-stop resource for finding/buying tickets to local events or handling transactions with nearby businesses on the fly — the sort of in-app purchases that present targeting and 1:1 interaction opportunities for marketers.
According to Facebook, the features are now rolling out in the U.S., and the blog post added that this is only the "first step."
"[O]ver the coming months we’ll be launching even more new features that will make it easier to get things done, make confident decisions and communicate directly with businesses on your time and terms,” it said.
An improved Events bookmark follows the launch of a standalone Events app earlier this month which allows users to see events their friends are interested in going to; happenings from Pages they've already liked; and updates from events they've indicated interest in attending. The app includes an interactive map where users can explore events around either their current location or a specific destination.
The cumulative upgrades to Facebook's nearby options signal that the tech titan is further attempting to upgrade its search capabilities to potentially give Google — who's also recently ramped up its location analytics and targeting — a run for its money. They also put Facebook more squarely in competition with Yelp and other nearby recommendations platforms.
