Facebook adds appointment booking to Facebook and Instagram

Image: AMY OSBORNE/AFP/Getty Images

With these new Facebook and Instagram tools, why ever log off?

Facebook announced Tuesday that it is rolling out a feature for businesses and their customers that allows users to book appointments directly through Instagram and Facebook. 

Facebook has been testing this feature for a while, but now the ability to request an appointment on the user end, and confirm it on the business end, is going wide. 

Facebook began testing business “action buttons” in May 2018. It specifically rolled out tests of appointment booking buttons in December. Now, the feature will be available on Instagram to all businesses worldwide. To add “Book Now” capabilities, businesses can go to Edit profile, then click “Add Action Button,” and select “Book Now.” 

A demo video shows how a “Book Now” button will appear on business pages. When users click on the button, they’ll be able to select the date, time, and services they want, and then hit “Request Appointment.” 

The process then transfers over to Messenger (coincidentally, Facebook is integrating its messaging platforms), where it connects the user with the business. The two parties will be able to address any questions, and then when the business confirms the appointment request, users will get notified through Messenger. Users then have the option to add the appointment to their calendars, which can connect to the Facebook events calendar, or external apps.

Businesses can use this capability, and manage their appointment schedules, entirely within Facebook and Instagram, or with the third-party software and apps of their choice. George Liang, a product manager at Facebook, also pointed out the ability to consolidate appointment booking and schedule management between Facebook and Instagram, and its benefits to business owners. 

“One of the benefits of enabling Appointments on Facebook and Instagram is that a business can manage all appointments across both platforms on their Facebook page – which saves businesses time and resources of managing appointments across multiple surfaces,” Liang told Mashable over email.

Facebook is also launching a new simplified ad buying tool for businesses, and video creation tools, to help businesses make ads.

Instagram has been steadily rolling out new shopping features, so influencers can turn those likes into dollars. It also makes sense for a discovery platform like Instagram to integrate action buttons, so users can translate their piqued interest in a hair stylist’s skills or tattoo artist’s work into becoming IRL customers. It also incentivizes businesses that don’t necessarily have goods to sell to advertise on Facebook. It’s a win-win for customers and businesses — but a loss for people who actually want to see friends in their feeds, not the increasing presence of ads.