The Rise Of Social Ticketing On Facebook

Ticketmaster and Eventbrite each recently announced that they will start selling tickets directly through Facebook, without having to leave the app. Last week in the Ticketing Technology Forum in Dublin, SAP unveiled their own social ticketing solution.

Doug Lions is a partner at FutureTix and a former Tickets.com and AXS/AEG executive.

He has seen firsthand the changing approach towards social ticketing in recent years: "There's been a disconnect between the growth of social activity and our industry's ability to capitalize on this trend. As our research shows, acknowledgement of the importance of mobile and social – which are hugely intertwined – is not matched by effective tools to take advantage of the captive audience in this realm."

Research showed that over 50% of Facebook users are curious where their friends are sitting at shows. Evento Social Promotion started selling tickets on Facebook back in 2011. The company developed a social seating map that enables ticket buyers to see where their friends are sitting and to invite others to join them. Evento's platform integrates into external ticketing systems, giving event owners the option to sell through Facebook without changing their ticketing suppliers.

It seems that the days in which tickets were sold online without any social features will look as outdated as going to the box office and standing in line.

via Celebrity Access