Facebook Revamps Events to Help Users Find Bars, Restaurants

Facebook Inc FB has revamped its Events App and added a list of nearby restaurants and bars (with reviews) and local businesses. The app is now called Local and is available for download on both iOS and Android app stores, per media reports.

The service could pose concerns to established players like Yelp and Foursquare.  

In addition to reviews, Local will have a tab dedicated to finding events nearby, just like its predecessor. Also, it shows the places where people on one’s Friends list hang around.

Facebook, Inc. Price

Facebook, Inc. Price | Facebook, Inc. Quote

Last year, Facebook launched Events, which helps users to find various events nearby. Events was far from being a runaway success with a mere 100,000 downloads, reportedly, prompting a total overhaul.

About the Events refurbish, TechCrunch quoted Facebook’s Local product manager Aditya Koolwal saying, “Make it a lot easier to do certain kind of looks ups that are very common when making plans with friends.”

Per Reuters, with Local, Facebook is trying to expand its footprint in the local commerce/ e-commerce market. A few days back, the company had partnered with several restaurants and food ordering services to enable U.S. users order food through the platform. Although Facebook isn’t looking to monetize the app at the moment, eventually it will do so if Local takes off. Facebook has a habit of spinning off its services and developing these into different revenue streams, adds Reuters.

There are high chances that Local could taste success. Analysts observe that people have a habit of posting check-ins on Facebook regularly. Given Facebook’s huge user and advertiser base, Local may be successful.

Zacks Rank and Share Price Movement

Facebook carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Notably, the company has outperformed the industry in the past year. Shares of Facebook have surged 55.1% compared with the industry’s 27.8% increase.

Stocks to Consider

Better-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector include NVIDIA Corporation NVDA) Applied Materials AMAT and Jabil Inc JBL. While NVIDIA and Jabil sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Applied Materials carries a Zacks Rank#2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Long-term earnings growth rate for NVIDIA, Applied Materials and Jabil is currently projected to be 11.2%, 17.1% and 12%, respectively.

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