Facebook continues to renew itself, after the new user privacy policies Local, the app completely dedicated to events, arrives in Italy.
In the states it was introduced in November 2017 and replaced Facebook events, the first attempt at zuckemberg's house to catalog initiatives on the ground.
What exactly is Local?
The app is free and available for both Android and Ios devices. Signing up is easy and you are not bound by Facebook: those who are already logged in will be able to access it automatically, while those who are not logged in will still be able to use the app without any limitations
Local's description on the stores reports the following features:
- See the latest activities, events and places your friends interact with, and updates from event organizers and Pages you follow.
- Find events and activities near you or in another city with an interactive map and filter them by time, category, location, and more.
- Get recommendations based on the most popular events among your friends, activities you've done in the past, Pages you like, and our selected Guides.
- Explore local listings of recommended events and venues in more than 60 cities.
- Add calendars from your cell phone to see all your schedules and invitations in one place.
- Turn on receiving notifications about upcoming events so you don't miss any changes in details.
Facebook Local
Local, starting from the Facebook event board, aims to be a mix between Yelp, Foursquare, TripAdvisor and Google Calendar. It also sets itself the ambitious goal of becoming the first source platform for leisure activities. In fact, its home groups together a selection of events in which we have shown interest, nearby or in which our friends are interested. It is precisely our friends who will become little influencers for events, as we will be shown their check-ins, interest, reviews and likes.
It comes with a simple and clear interface and is really intuitive to use, let's see it together.
How does it work?
The first step is to provide our location and allow geolocation. This clearly allows you to find all events within miles and, most importantly, to see what your friends are doing
The home page has two main areas. At the top are several and numerous categories, we have: restaurant, coffee, drinks, attractions but with other there is a long menu. We also have the possibility to see, under the Friends button, the events in which Facebook contacts participate and to access a section containing the events that we have already consulted on the social, for example by putting I am interested.
In the area below, navigation is divided into three sections:
- For you collecting events calculated by interest on Facebook
- Events, divided by date with which you can make a schedule
- Guides, which groups together culturally themed events and fundraisers.
Two other functions can also be accessed from the menu at the bottom of the screen: map and calendar.
The first allows you to view a map with events around us. Several filters can be applied: relevance, date, time during the day.
Calendar, on the other hand, once again presents all events arranged by date and time in a more linear, calendarized format. Here you can also create a new Facebook Event or Calendar Event, which allows you to choose which type of calendars to display within the application.
Events are presented in the same layout as facebook: starting with the cover page, basic information, other participants, the ability to add comments, details, and venue information. There are also venue pages, again along the lines of Facebbok. We bring back details, external links, image collections, all upcoming events, and the ability to write a review.
A new opportunity
Facebook Local takes advantage of an algorithm and is able to provide not only directions to venues and events based on the user's location, but also based on the user's past experiences and tastes. It is not only a valuable tool for users, to whom it will run to help on evenings when one does not know what to do or when one is in some new location or on vacation, but it is also a great opportunity for businesses. Businesses, in fact, will have at their disposal a real showcase that offers them the opportunity to acquire customers in the area.
Facebook local aims to be an app independent of the parent social, aiming to replicate the success of Messenger.
We are confident that once installed it will remain on the cell phones of all of us, end users and businesses.
Do you guys have any events planned tonight?