Facebook helps people connect with local businesses

Over 1.6 billion people around the world are connected to a small business on Facebook while more than 80 million businesses rely on Facebook to maintain an online presence, communicate with customers and drive sales.

Facebook updates to Pages, Events and Jobs to make these connections simpler and more valuable.

• Updating Pages: From making a reservation at a restaurant, booking an appointment at a salon, to staying updated on upcoming Events and Offers, and browsing Stories on Pages to get to know the people behind the business – the redesigned Pages on mobile make it even easier for people and local businesses to interact in a more meaningful way.
• Making Recommendations from local community more helpful: People use Recommendations to ask their communities where to go, where to eat, or where to shop. Recommendations also help businesses reach people while they’re searching for or talking about them. With the “Recommendations” feature,  people will now be able to post a Recommendation for businesses including text, photos and tags directly on the Page.
• Continuing to build Events: 700 million people use Facebook Events each month to find things to do, while local businesses use Events to bring their customers and communities together. It’s now easier to buy and sell tickets for Events directly on Facebook with new ticketing integrations.
• Expanding our jobs tool: In Thailand, SMEs create more than 70% of jobs. Facebook helps people find those jobs and help local businesses hire the right people, with “job application tool” to everywhere in the world.
• Taking steps to make finding a local spot quicker: People can now browse a “Local” section in Facebook app or use a standalone Facebook Local app, to see what places are most recommended, and check out which events your friends are attending.