Facebook has become a significant player in event planning. After all, why use a service like Evite when all of your friends are already on Facebook?
Planning an event on Facebook is already fairly easy – you just click on “Events” from the applications menu bar and create one. But the social network has decided to make it even easier, letting you create an event directly from the publisher (aka, the “what’s on your mind” box).
To do so, Facebook explains, ”after clicking on the “Events” icon, you can enter information about what the event is and where and when you want to meet. You can invite friends directly from the Feed story that’s created either on your Profile or your News Feed. Just select the “Invite guests” link to share the event with friends.”
Like other Facebook updates, this is presumably being rolled out gradually, so you might not see it yet (I don’t), but Facebook shows what it looks like:
Moving events to the publisher makes sense, and it seems Facebook hopes users start using the app more casually – you’ll notice the example they offer is “lunch,” as opposed to the more formal invites you might be used to receiving.
Keep in mind, however, that the publisher is set to become increasingly complicated, as Facebook is currently testing its new per-update privacy options that will be rolled out to all users in coming weeks. Too much clutter could lead to users simply ignoring the features and continuing to just post status updates – user behavior that Facebook (
) is clearly hoping to change.
