Google, Facebook Rivalry Now Extends To Events

Google has updated its events feature to include personalized suggestions and a new design that puts more event information in the search results. Last year, Google announced updates to its app and mobile web search that enable people to use them to find things to do. This decision was made following the observation that people were already using it millions of times on a daily basis to learn more about local events.

Working with event sites to make their content more easily searchable, events will populate when queries about activities in an area are entered into the search engine. These event sites include “Eventbrite, Ticketmaster, SeatGeek, Meetup, Vividseats, Jambase, LiveNation, Burbio, Allevents.in, Bookmyshow.com, StubHub, Bandsintown, Yext and Eventful.”

The move was a way for Google to better compete with Facebook, which said last fall that 100 million people were using Facebook Events on a daily basis, and 650 million were using it across the network.

Now, according to reports, Google is returning its event results in a new format: Search results appear as cards, each with a little bookmark icon that one can click on to save the event details. In addition, when one taps on one of the event listing cards, users are directed to a page with more information — including the date, time, location and shortcuts — to save the event, buy tickets, get directions or share it with others.

The more users utilize the feature, the better the system will know what sort of events they would enjoy. The personalized recommendations feature, found in the bottom navigation bar’s “For You” tab, organizes suggested events by category and will show users trending and popular events in the area, if they need ideas.

The feature is not currently live for everyone, but is rolling out to mobile users over the next few days.