Social media giant Facebook has recently launched an option for users to order takeaway food directly from the site.
The company has added this option to both the desktop version of its site and the mobile app. It is believed to be powered by either Delivery.com or Slice, which partnered with Facebook last year.
Within the mobile app, users will begin to see a blue burger icon located in the main menu, whereas on the desktop version of the site, there will be a colourful burger on the sidebar of the site. Pressing this button will take the user to a list of supported restaurants in their area and, from there, the user can filter the eating establishments available by type of cuisine, price and consumer ratings.
Once the user has selected the restaurant they wish to order from, they can then select the ‘Start Order’ option. This will present the user with the restaurant’s menu where the desired dishes can be chosen. It is also possible to edit an order (and even add a tip for the restaurant) and pay for the takeaway without the need to leave the social network.
After the order has been completed, a confirmation message will be presented to the user, along with an email that will detail both the order and the estimated delivery time.
As the feature is still in its infancy, TechCrunch has said that the service is experiencing some teething problems, possibly as a result of it being slowly rolled out to different areas, with some pages failing to load properly and some options vanishing and reappearing.
This feature is currently only available to a select number of US-based users, but this could lead to a worldwide roll out in the near future should the feature prove to be a hit with users.
Facebook users have been able to order food through the site for some time now, but prior to the introduction of this feature, was only able to be done by visiting the Facebook page of a supported restaurant, showing it as more of a call-to-action than a specialist function.
Moving this option to the home page will make it much easier for users to access and could ensure that more users actually use the service. Although its functionality is nothing new, it is a way for the company to keep users on the site for longer – something it is looking to do with the introduction of other features such as Instant Games and Stories.
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