Enter: Facebook Events.
A Facebook event pops up in front of us on a page we have already ‘Liked’ and ‘Followed’ or maybe just because we know a few people who have ‘Liked’ and ‘Followed’ the page and we pause for a moment. The event looks good. It looks like something we would be interested in… but do we click ‘Interested’?
We don’t know if we want to go but feel like we should have the right to decide closer to the date… but then we don’t need to be bombarded with a million reminders, or all the messages their business/association post to the event… and there’s always that annoying ‘Friend’ on our Facebook who sees us click interested on something and immediately invites us to go with them and … yeah… nah…
We might go, but we don’t want to tell the world about it.
Fast forward three weeks – it’s Sunday afternoon, you’re going back to work tomorrow, have done nothing all weekend, you have a boredom headache, the kids are annoying and… that annoying ‘Friend’ is posting photos from having gone to that EVENT which is now over.
That EVENT you completely forgot about.
The truth of the matter is that despite all the technology available to us, we must keep reminders for things we are interested in. The attention span of the modern human being is EXTREMELY SHORT. This means that we are so used to seeing things we want AND simply attaining our goals with instant gratification. For those things we cannot have right now, or order online right now, or attend right now; we need some sort of daily planner or calendar.
A daily planner be it electronic, on paper, in your email calendar is a habit that is created through perseverance and necessity, and isn’t one easily formed. It requires discipline and constant vigilance i.e. it’s hard work.
Too hard basket for a lot of us.
The truth of the matter is that while many people (and usually the loudest) protest the invasiveness of social media and event reminders, the purpose (and result) is that you can click ‘Interested’ on an EVENT in Facebook, which takes less than a second, and continue with your life.
Easy.
Those regular updates you receive keep you aware of whether that event is all you were expecting and still worth your time.
Helpful.
When Facebook tells your friends that you are interested in an EVENT and then tells you that they are too, it is providing you with the knowledge that if you’re looking for an excuse to socialise with these people; YOU CAN.
But you don’t have to.
It also gives you the option to invite people to an event with a click of the button, so you don’t have to remember to do it later.
Facebook is and always has been a social tool. It is designed to help bring people together, and while it can sometimes seem like advertising is getting in the way of socialising through Facebook; I would challenge that Facebook only tells us about things we have an interest in. Facebook events are an easy, efficient, and effective way to be aware of and create social experiences.
Whether you get the most out of this social tool is up to you.
Blog by Nathan Coombes
