Facebook Takes on Google with New Local Recommendations

Facebook is the hub of social information, while Google is the king of the web search. Both are incredibly powerful in their own fields; Google’s amalgamation of search algorithms, your previous searches, and all your Google history, and Facebook’s combination of algorithms, your posts, your likes, etc.

Now, Facebook has put another plan in action to directly take on Google in local recommendations for concerts, events, restaurants, etc. The social network will now let you poll your friends to get their recommendations.

Get Recommendations from your Facebook Friends

Looking for a new hair salon in your city? Want to find out the best new Chinese restaurant near your home? You can simply ask your friends to help you out.

The process is pretty simple. All you have to do is just post an update, like a normal status update, and Facebook will let your friends pick out locations. These locations will then be neatly displayed on a map right inside the Facebook app.

Up till now, Google has dominated the recommendation market, thanks to its immense treasure trove of knowledge about local business through Google Maps. A simple Google search is enough to find the best places to eat out, watch a movie, etc. Facebook, on the other hand, believes that a social approach is better as the recommendations will be powered by your friends, not just random people on the web.

The update also adds several other useful features to the Facebook app, making it more powerful than ever. You can now order food, request an appointment or even purchase tickets to movies or events from right inside the app. They have also revamped the Events dashboard. It will now let you keep a check on the latest events activity from friends and hosts. It will also show event recommendations based on what’s popular with your friends or events you’ve connected with in the past.

Facebook has started the roll out of most of the new features today for the United States. The social network’s roll out is usually very slow and there is no guarantee when they will follow up with a global release. It can be as little as a few weeks or it may be as long as a few months before we finally get to try this out in Pakistan.

Image Credits — DealersUnited