Facebook utilities set to own hyper local ecosystem

The social networking giant released a new set of features that will replace some of the conventional apps on your phone or laptop. Facebook utilities is out in the market to dominate the on demand app-based services.

To begin with, if you use a separate app for booking movie tickets, delete it.

If you use a separate app to order your meal, well, delete that too.

We’re not sure if there are apps to schedule appointments at your hairdresser, DELETE IT!

You can now do all these things without leaving the comfort of good ol’ Facebook, and wait! There is more. You can get ‘quotes’ from someone by requesting for it, using the new ‘Get Quote’ button. Also…

You can also get Recommendations from your friends, so if you’re in a different city, just log on to Facebook, and ask your friends ‘Where can I get the best coffee in town?’ or ‘What are the places to visit if I go to certain city?’

Facebook’s AI will automatically detect whether you’re asking for help or suggestions and if you have Recommendations turned on, it will appear on your friend’s News Feeds in the form of a Looking For Recommendations’ post. When answered by friends in the form of comments, it will add a map and a bookmark in case you need it for future reference.

All right, so talking about Movie Tickets. (Don’t delete those apps just yet if you’re from India) Facebook is working together with Ticketmaster and EventBrite, to bring the process of booking movie or event tickets to Facebook.

For Appointments, Facebook is working with MyTime to bring their appointment scheduling capabilities to Facebook’s core platform.

If you wish to order a meal, Delivery.com and Slice have been tapped by Facebook, integrating one of the most popular actions taken by mobile phone users onto their platform, ensuring you don’t really have reasons to close the Facebook tab, even if you want to.

The social media giant is quickly stepping into various territories,and it will only get difficult to define Facebook’s identity besides it being the Goliath of just about everything that can be done on the internet.

Previously, Facebook had seamlessly integrated shopping and advertising onto their platform, with brands adopting its comprehensive targeting features which are offered at a fraction of the cost of traditional media.

Now with these new changes, Facebook can look forward to being the one stop app for taking multiple actions, and with the capabilities it offers, it is quite possible for a person to meet someone, make a date, make plans for the date, and brag about it with check-ins and pictures, tell friends how the date was, and if feeling especially inclined to, even purchase a gift or make a couples spa appointment for next weekend. ALL ON FACEBOOK.

This is just an example of how far Facebook has come over the years, and an indicator of how far it could possibly go, in future. Although Facebook has not made any monetization plans known, the company could be waiting to perfect the new features before the eventual worldwide launch.

These features are only available in the United States of America for now, but initial user reactions are highly positive, and as India is one of the biggest markets for Facebook alongside the United Kingdom, we can expect them to be at our disposal in a few weeks.

Facebook is also bringing back a revamped Events tab, making things easier for users to browse through popular events among friends, previously attended events or check out event recommendations. It will also be rolled out to users in the United States of America first.

Are you looking forward to using Facebook Utilities? Share your experiences with us at team@socialsamosa.com