Wednesday Buzz: Facebook Ups Its Events Game

Need to promote your next conference or fundraiser? We hope you can get on Facebook’s Featured Events list—it’s sure to be the new hot spot for events  (opens in a new tab), as the social network’s Events section garners 550 million users each month. Facebook will hand-pick Featured Events for their ultra-social users who avidly subscribe  (opens in a new tab) to events online.

More than 123 million public and private events were created on Facebook last year. The social network wants to expand that, possibly ensuring the success of such gatherings.

“You can think about it like a weekend or weekly digest of cool stuff that you can do in your city,” Facebook Events Product Manager Aditya Koolwai explained to TechCrunch  (opens in a new tab).

Fresh off its launch yesterday, the feature can be seen by iOS-based users in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC. It will be organized in an innovative carousel slide tool.

Following the trending topics controversy, Facebook will likely be careful in its selection of events. The new feature could eventually replace community boards, challenge email blasts for events, and streamline the discovery of new events.

Tweet of the Day

Co-creation and Collaboration: Tricks and Tools for Event Planners by @JamesMorganPhD  (opens in a new tab) https://t.co/SVX3ixvWPx  (opens in a new tab) pic.twitter.com/Wh2EpPidPn  (opens in a new tab)

— Julius Solaris (@tojulius) June 29, 2016  (opens in a new tab)

Are we seeing the democratization of event planning? Co-creation and collaboration are being welcomed as innovative and creative event-planning models these days. On the Event Manager Blog  (opens in a new tab), James Morgan, cofounder of Event Tech Lab, offers six steps to try them out.

More noteworthy Links

Our minds tend to work on “autopilot” more than we realize, says scientist Bob Nease, who argues in a Fast Company piece  (opens in a new tab) that we should be more conscious of our decision-making opportunities.

Who owns this—or that—event? It may not be the organizers, the sponsors, or the people who contribute resources. Event expert Adrian Segar writes a thought-provoking post  (opens in a new tab) for event planners to ponder.

Everything is mobile, mobile, mobile. With Google’s recent change in search prioritization, the pressure to be mobile-friendly is higher than ever. Aptify’s Jennifer Barrell shares some simple tips  (opens in a new tab) on how to get mobile-friendly as soon as possible.

(via TechCrunch)