Going.com to Offer Tickets
By Alfred Branch, Jr.
A new social networking site that specializes in promoting live entertainment has begun allowing members to buy tickets, just the latest example of a growing trend among such online communities. Going.com, which is less than a year old, began offering tickets this week to events in five select cities – New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco – with plans to spread to 10 other cities within the next three months, including Atlanta, Miami, Philadelphia and Washington DC.
With the reach that social networking sites have, artists, promoters and show organizers can potentially market themselves or their events to hundreds of thousands of people almost instantly. Going.com concentrates on smaller events that might not generate a lot of exposure on their own. The site already has more than 500,000 members, most of whom are interested in personal interaction as opposed to sitting alone in a room at the computer.
“We want to get you on the computer first, help you find what you want and then get you out of the house,” Going.com spokesperson Michael Selvidge told TicketNews. “There really aren’t any other sites that do the same thing we do and offer tickets.”
Most events are user-generated, and there are no fees for concert organizers to post shows. Going.com will charge a nominal transaction fee for tickets sold, the amount of the fee officials did not disclose because it may change, but Selvidge said it is “among the lowest” industry.
“The goal all along was to create a one-stop shop for members to meet, find new events and buy tickets,” Selvidge said, adding that staffers personally contact the organizers who post an event to validate a show’s authenticity.
