Ticketmaster's interactive seat map brings Facebook stalking to concert venues
You desperately want to attend Katy Perry's raucous San Antonio concert, but your kid sister has absolutely zero interest in tagging along, and the mere thought of going stag strikes fear into your heart. All seems lost, but worry not -- because Ticketmaster and Facebook have just joined forces to create a new feature that weds concert-going with social networking. As of today, users purchasing tickets to select events can easily find out whether any of their Facebook friends are also attending and where they're seated. All you have to do is connect to Ticketmaster with your Facebook account, find your concert of choice and use the interactive venue map to tag your own seats, or to see those of online friends who've already tagged themselves. From there, you can buy tickets right next to your intended targets and act totally surprised when you bump into them at the show. For now, the feature is only available for 300 venues (encompassing some 9,000 events), but you can find more information in the video and press release after the break.
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Ticketmaster Delivers Social Connectivity Into Interactive Seat Maps
- Fans Can Share and See Where Their Friends Are Sitting Through Interactive Seat Maps, Integrated With Facebook® -
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Ticketmaster, a Live Nation Entertainment company, today unveiled interactive seat maps integrated with Facebook. Fans can instantly share their live event plans by tagging themselves into their seats, enabling people on Facebook to see where they are sitting and which seats are available for purchase. More than 9,000 interactive seat maps are available on Ticketmaster.com and LiveNation.com.
"Ticketmaster is taking an important step toward making every stage of the live event experience as social online as it is in real life," said David Fisch of Facebook. "Ticketmaster's interactive seat map shows the promise of using social technologies to improve the event experience."
Adding social connectivity into interactive seat maps begins to realize Ticketmaster's vision to integrate social into every fan touch point, extending the fun and excitement of the live entertainment experience far beyond the walls of the venue. Ticketmaster first revolutionized the search and selection process of tickets with the roll out of interactive seat maps, which began last year. Integrating Facebook into these interactive seat maps will create a community around each live event that will begin with the onsale and build through the live event. Fans have the ability to select who they want to share their plans with: they can choose to share with everyone, with their friends or they can opt to not share.
"Live events are inherently social and leveraging social media to enhance them allows the passion to exist in the digital space before, during and after live events," said Nathan Hubbard, CEO of Ticketmaster. "Our team is fanatical about leading the industry forward and we will continue to innovate the live experience."
When purchasing event tickets on either Ticketmaster.com or LiveNation.com, fans can use the interactive seat maps to see where their friends are sitting. Fans can then select available seats, complete the purchase and tag themselves. If the purchaser tags friends, notifications are then sent through Facebook so individuals tagged can choose to share. For fans that have already purchased tickets, or purchased tickets elsewhere, they can also add themselves directly into the interactive seat map and share with their network of friends.
For more information about the interactive seat maps integrated with Facebook, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znxZ8h-z3rk
