Sparkloft Media has created an application enabling Facebook users to book a flight to visit friends also featured on the social network.
The company believes the FriendFareFinder app is filling a gap in the market by making airfare booking a social process as well as providing companies with the opportunity to get the ROI they are seeking from social media channels.
The app is available free-of-charge to consumers with a Facebook account, while a white label version is currently being developed.
The company hopes to make its money via the B2B version, which will be provided on an SAAS mode. The white label will also include an event finder and a hotel booking engine.
A number of airlines including Delta and easyJet have introduced booking engines to their Facebook pages over the course of the last year. Sparkloft Media is social media division of US-based social media strategy specialist GoSeeTell Network.
The company admits a weakness in the model at this stage is that it can only be used by individuals with their own Facebook profiles, but given the size of the network (600+ million users) there is ample opportunity for B2B clients to “prove the ROI of social media activities”.
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Nicely done from a UI perspective. Kayak had/has a similar Facebook app though I don’t recall if it had a map view. We think it applies to driving too
Great concept. It seems it is currently using Kayak’s API for “Explore” and returns cached results to match your/their location with a flight. But I like the design (second Jim). A native Facebook App would be closer to what Delta and easyJet are doing – currently it works more like a website with Facebook Connect (outside of the FB econsystem) just to pull your friends information.
Fantastic, smooth, fun app, definite huge viral potential. I feel they missed the boat though with what what it would be used for. I don’t see huge return on investment ie sales via use of the app. I see it more as something you’d want to share with your friends and grow brand recognition virally – in this case I feel it needs a bit more sharing functionality where you could actually post the results to your wall allowing your friends to see if perhaps it’s cheaper for them to visit you and how different flights, to and from different places in the world measure up.