Facebook is now bringing you food! Although, no one was really asking them to.
In the age of Instagram and Snapchat, Facebook is attempting to transform into more than just a social media platform. They have partnered up with food delivery services to help users order food directly from their site.
They hope to streamline the process by giving users a chance to research, get recommendations and order food without ever leaving the site.
Facebook has partnered with their existing delivery services including EatStreet, Delivery.com, DoorDash, ChowNow and Olo in addition to restaurants to fast track the process.
The scenario they imagine is that while scrolling through the newsfeed, users would feel an urge to eat and look to Facebook for their options.
After chatting up friends via Facebook Messenger to ask for the best place to go, users would visit the restaurant’s page directly, explore their menu and decide to order. When ordering, you will have the option to use one of the partnered delivery services either with an existing account or by creating a new one.
The benefit is you stay on one site the entire time. With the time you save, the food can get to you faster, which is a plus for everyone.
Assuming that people already live on Facebook 24/7, this seems like a great update. If you like getting recommendations from your favorite social media resources, it’s even better.
The problem is that in recent years their younger audiences have dropped off in favor of other sites. Regardless of what they think, not everyone is flocking to Facebook for their every need.
My guess is that this service will benefit those already using Facebook, but is less likely to draw new audiences in.
Adding more services may not be the key to success if Facebook can’t refine their other features. They have already been criticized for their ad reporting practices, though they seem to fix everything with a new algorithm.
Facebook has continued to stray away from their original intent, and food delivery won’t be their last update.
Facebook wants to be everything, but not everyone may want the same.
