Facebook has its sights set on owning events and local listings—again.
Today the social network is rebranding its year-old Events app to be called Local, which pulls in local business information on top of events created in Facebook.
Local aggregates Facebook’s database of 70 million business pages as well as reviews and check-ins. Via the app, consumers can view recommended bars, restaurants and attractions, look at maps and see nearby friends.
“The new app, Facebook Local, 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,” said Aditya Koolwal, product manager at Facebook in a statement.
With 2.1 billion monthly active users, Facebook brings tremendous scale to the events and listing business and is competing with companies like Yelp and Foursquare that have built their businesses around local recommendations and reviews.
In the past couple of years, Foursquare has shifted its business model more towards analytics and providing brands with troves of stats while Yelp recently rolled out Yelp Local Audiences that connects its data to demand-side platforms so that advertisers can buy targeted promos.
