Facebook Recommendations Aim To Enlist Friends To Assist

The Facebook feature train keeps on rolling, with the company today introducing friend recommendations and revamping the Events page. On top of that, the number of options users have when interacting with local businesses is increasing. In short, there are a lot of changes being made with the intention of making Facebook the only place you ever have to visit on the internet.

Whether or not that's a good thing depends on who you talk to, but let's get down to what these features actually do. You now have the option of turning on Recommendations when you create a new post, allowing you to ask your friends for advice on local places to visit. For instance, if you're looking for a place to get your hair cut, you can ask your friends to recommend a salon in your area.

When you've turned on Recommendations, the places your friends suggest will be collected and mapped for you, allowing you to see these places at a glance. This feature also serves as a way to save these suggestions so they're easily accessible later. It should also be noted that there's a dedicated Recommendations tab going live, giving you another place to create a post that solicits suggestions from friends.

The Events tab is getting something of a rework, too. Now the Event dashboard allows you to easily see the event happenings of your friends. Just as well, if you're looking for a new event to attend, you can use the dashboard to find ones in your area or browse the events your friends will be attending.

Finally, Facebook has added more options to local business pages. These are meant to increase interactivity with these businesses, and the options you see will change depending on the type of page you're viewing. For example, if you're looking at the page for a restaurant, you may now see an "order food" button. Other buttons you might see pop up will give you the ability to set an appointment, request a quote, or purchase tickets.

So, for those who already lean on Facebook as a resource for what's going on in their local area, these new features will probably come in handy. Facebook is implementing a significant amount of new functionality here, so it's going to be interesting to see where it goes next. If these are any indication, though, expect Facebook to make more moves that attempt to further integrate your real life with the service it offers.