One of the earliest features of Facebook was the ability to create or RSVP to an event. It enables you to plan for an event and quickly inform your friends so that they can attend. There has been potential for the product to be bigger than it is now and it seems Facebook is working on a tweak that would make it useful.
According to Venturebeat, Facebook has launched a pilot program that would allow you to buy tickets directly from the app or the site. How are they able to do this? They have apparently partnered with companies that deal with tickets (Eventbrite and Ticketmaster) where they will focus on “a number of single tier, General Admission events in the US.”
A Facebook spokesperson gave a statement to the publication about the test:
Millions of people use Facebook to discover and learn more about local events. In our research, we’ve found that some of the reasons why people don’t go to an event are because they found out about it too late or they didn’t know who else was going. In addition to giving people meaningful social context around events they might consider attending, this pilot will allow people to make ticket purchasing on Facebook easier and faster, especially on mobile devices.
How will you be able to purchase the ticket then? Well, Eventbrite and Ticketmaster will be integrated within Facebook. In the case of Eventbrite, Facebook already has your name, email address and payment information so you only need two taps to check out and Eventbrite will provide a QR code to access the tickets easier. For Ticketmaster, you will be redirected apparently to another site to complete the purchase of the ticket.
This is just another attempt by Facebook to make it an “all-in-one-roof” social network in a bid to make sure its 1.65 billion+ users see no need of jumping ship to other networks. The unfortunate thing is that this pilot program is only available to US right now and is being tested only on the site (not the mobile apps).
