Over a hundred million people on Facebook use the social networking site's events feature every month, and today, Facebook is releasing a standalone app dedicated solely for it.
Available now for iOS users, and with an Android version coming soon, Events from Facebook collates all upcoming nearby events and streamlines it in an intuitive and clear interface. The app takes advantage of a user's calendar information to identify when the user has free time, stringing the task of finding events and looking through your calendar in one dedicated app, so you don't have to shuffle around, trying to calculate free time.
Fire up the Events app and it will show what events your friends are interested in or are planning to go to. Before, discovery of events on the site were largely contingent on stumbling upon them several scrolls later on the News Feed. People were able to join events through this method more often than directly heading for the separate Events tab on the site's sidebar. With heaps and mounds of content saturating the site, users are prone to missing some events they might have been interested in had they seen it.
"With hundreds of millions of events shared on Facebook every year, the fear of missing out is becoming a thing of the past," says Aditya Koolwal, Facebook's product manager. "Whether you're looking for something to attend this weekend or just wondering what's happening in your area, Events will help get you there."
With the events app, users can see events they have been invited to or events they have RSVP'd. An algorithm generates a laundry list of events it thinks you'll be interested in, using information such as events your friends are going to, location, interests or pages you've liked.
There's also a Search tab if you want to browse through events yourself. To make it easier, there are three categories that group forthcoming events: Today, Tomorrow or This weekend. An interactive in-app map is also embedded inside Search to browse through events in any city or plan an upcoming trip.
There is a dedicated Calendar tab, and as previously mentioned, it syncs data from a user's calendar information to display events and appointments a user may have. Google Calendar will also sync with Events, which is good news for users already using Google's calendar app.
Activity inside the Events app will be reflected over to Facebook, so friends can still see what events you're interested in or events you're going to even if the action was made within the Events app.
Facebook has already released a separate app for the sites Marketplace feature recently, and now they're giving Events the same treatment. A crucial part of Facebook's appeal is its Events functionality, which is oftentimes absent in other social networking sites, or if it's present, it's not as intuitive and easy to use. Even some of the people who intend to quit Facebook cite Events as one of the reasons they can't let go of the service yet. Facebook has integrated events into its social experience, making it much easier to discover and participate in simple gatherings, large-scale conventions or even festivals. All possible within the site, and now, also within the app.
