Copyright Facebook

The New York Times published a report analyzing Disney’s foray into Facebook apps. Facebook has become exceedingly popular, evidenced by the rapid growth of the social networking site. The Walt Disney Corporation is bringing movie ticket purchasing to the site, launching an application called Disney Tickets Together that allows Facebook users to purchase ‘Toy Story 3’ tickets. As the site’s emphasis is on community and connecting with others, the slogan of the application states: ‘Toy Story 3’ arrives in theaters on June 18! Who are you bringing with you?”. Clearly, the movie studio is tapping into the idea of togetherness by inviting users to invite others to see the movie with them.

The marketing team behind the upcoming Pixar film has been burning their creative juices. In addition to this new Facebook venture, users of the popular site who were enrolled in certain universities were recently invited to RSVP to watch cliffhanger screenings of ‘Toy Story 3’. Everything but the last 20 minutes of the film was screened for the lucky viewers in theaters nationwide. Many current college students, who are avid users of Facebook, were children when the original ‘Toy Story’ bowed in theaters in 1995. They grew up with the franchise as Andy, owner to Woody and Buzz, also aged. Recognizing that, the Disney marketing team decided to seek out those college students to build early buzz (I swear, pun not intended).

‘Toy Story 3’ opens in theaters June 18 nationwide.