Facebook Local Standalone App Launched, Replacing Events

Facebook on Friday relaunched its Events standalone app, calling it Local. Available for Android and iOS users in the US, the Facebook Local app features information about local businesses and reviews from Facebook users to help bring together businesses, restaurants, bars, and more with events.

"Launching in the US on iOS and Android, Facebook Local combines events and permanent places to a single search engine powered by Facebook's 70 million business pages plus reviews and friends' checkins," TechCrunch reported late on Friday.

"The new app, helps you easily find what to do, where to go, where to eat, or what you need - all recommended by the people you know and trust," Aditya Koolwal, Product Manager, Local, was quoted as saying.

The Local app will combine calendar and event listings and this aspect could turn the social media platform closer to apps like Foursquare and Yelp that search-and-discover and provide those results for its users locally.

On the Google Play app listing, the Facebook Local app is described to let users "keep up with what's happening locally-wherever you are-whether you're looking for something to do with friends this weekend or want to explore a new neighborhood."

Users will be able to see the most recent activity, events, and places your friends are interacting with and updates from event hosts and Pages you follow. There's also an interactive map and filter by time, category, location and more.

Recommendations are based on what's popular with the user's friends, where the user has been to in the past, the Pages the user likes, and Facebook's curated Guides. Calendars can be imported, so that all plans can be seen in one place. Users will also be able to opt-in to get notifications about upcoming events, in case things change.