Citysearch Integrates Facebook Connect and Enters Hyperlocal Review Race

Posted by Mashable in Wednesday, November 19th 2008

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Citysearch, the popular local events and review site owned by IAC, is getting a big makeover tonight. The site is expanding to become “hyperlocal” – creating listings for more than 75,000 different cities, adding social features through Facebook Connect, and launching an enhanced mobile experience. Initially, the new features will be available on a separate beta site, where they’ll be refined before going live early next year.

In integrating Facebook Connect, Citysearch is perhaps the most interesting example so far of what’s possible with data portability. The beta site allows you to login using your Facebook credentials to write reviews, and also track what other Facebook friends are doing on the site.

In other words, without registering for a Citysearch account, you’ll both be able to leave reviews of different places on Citysearch, as well as see what your friends are recommending. Those reviews are also broadcast back into Facebook, in turn allowing you to read your friend’s Citysearch reviews from your Facebook News Feed. Meanwhile, Citysearch is also expanding their mobile offering, allowing users to submit mobile reviews based on the new hyperlocal listings.

Ultimately, Citysearch is getting a much needed makeover in order to compete with up-and-coming competition from the likes of Yelp, who has long offered user reviews of very local locations. The Facebook Connect integration is also interesting, and offers Citysearch an opportunity to get lots of viral traction on the social network. In a sense, with how huge Facebook has become, it’s also a bit like OpenID – the barriers to entry on Citysearch have been vastly reduced by eliminating required registration, and the site can expect to see a big uptick in user review volume once the Facebook Connect integration is pushed live.

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