Facebook 'Professional Services' Revealed - Could This Hidden Feature Be The Next Yelp?
Need the best place for Carnival supplies or looking for a Cosmetologist? Facebook might be of help. Known to stop at nothing when it comes to enhancing user experience and ousting competitors, the social media giant has silently introduced a new feature called the ‘Services Directory’ to woo its users. The feature is not new as it has already been in implemented by industry giants such as Yelp, Google, Angie’s list etc. And while Facebook hasn’t made any official declaration about the same, the feature was first spotted by folks over at SearchEngineLand following a tip from another site - acodez.in
With this new feature one can search for the local services ranging from Arts & Marketing, computer services, spa beauty, personal care, event planning, plumbers, doctor’s offices, business consultancy and more.
Accessible at #-Link-Snipped-#, the site is simply laid out with a search box and a category of services you want to explore. The site is only available on desktop, though at ‘Nearby Places’ at the bottom of Facebook's navigation, you can still find local businesses on mobile. When you actually type in the search box on the site, you are able to enquire about all sorts of local businesses including pubs, nightclubs and travel related businesses such as hotels, tours etc. The search results also feature in, where the businesses are located on map. Basically it seems to include nearly every business that has a Facebook page. Thus providing us with the list of some of the best professional services based on popular reviews and ratings as per Facebook.
How it works:
Click on the link - #-Link-Snipped-#. You will find two menus. On the first one you just need to type your business or services specific search item, for example plumbers and add on the place in the second menu (visitors can find this preselected), hit search. Facebook’s new services directory will come up the results based on popular Facebook reviews and ratings.
Though it isn’t clear how Facebook is ranking the search results, it seems to be taking something more than ratings alone into consideration. The higher rated businesses having more reviews aren’t necessarily at the top of the list. All of this is a speculation however, since there hasn’t been any official statement from Facebook and they are only in the early stages of testing a way to let customers find easily the services they need.
It also isn’t clear yet how Facebook Professional Services might integrate with Facebook Places which is the network’s local search directory that offers people to explore geographic locations based on the experience of Facebook friends and strangers. However, with more than 50 million businesses with Facebook pages and reviews, this new venture of the network giant has much going for it in the present and future as well.
Source: Did You Know That Facebook Has A Hidden Services Directory | Facebook Takes On Angie's List And Yelp With New Site For Finding Top-Rated Local Businesses • TechCrunch
With this new feature one can search for the local services ranging from Arts & Marketing, computer services, spa beauty, personal care, event planning, plumbers, doctor’s offices, business consultancy and more.
Accessible at #-Link-Snipped-#, the site is simply laid out with a search box and a category of services you want to explore. The site is only available on desktop, though at ‘Nearby Places’ at the bottom of Facebook's navigation, you can still find local businesses on mobile. When you actually type in the search box on the site, you are able to enquire about all sorts of local businesses including pubs, nightclubs and travel related businesses such as hotels, tours etc. The search results also feature in, where the businesses are located on map. Basically it seems to include nearly every business that has a Facebook page. Thus providing us with the list of some of the best professional services based on popular reviews and ratings as per Facebook.
How it works:
Click on the link - #-Link-Snipped-#. You will find two menus. On the first one you just need to type your business or services specific search item, for example plumbers and add on the place in the second menu (visitors can find this preselected), hit search. Facebook’s new services directory will come up the results based on popular Facebook reviews and ratings.
Though it isn’t clear how Facebook is ranking the search results, it seems to be taking something more than ratings alone into consideration. The higher rated businesses having more reviews aren’t necessarily at the top of the list. All of this is a speculation however, since there hasn’t been any official statement from Facebook and they are only in the early stages of testing a way to let customers find easily the services they need.
It also isn’t clear yet how Facebook Professional Services might integrate with Facebook Places which is the network’s local search directory that offers people to explore geographic locations based on the experience of Facebook friends and strangers. However, with more than 50 million businesses with Facebook pages and reviews, this new venture of the network giant has much going for it in the present and future as well.
Source: Did You Know That Facebook Has A Hidden Services Directory | Facebook Takes On Angie's List And Yelp With New Site For Finding Top-Rated Local Businesses • TechCrunch
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