There’s no shortage of event-finding apps for your smartphone. YPlan, Eventbrite, Songkick — the list goes on and on. Facebook’s dream of being your go-to event planner is no secret, and today it’s taking a huge swipe at its specialized competitors with a new, standalone app of its own. Available first on iOS, the aptly named “Events” gives you a filtered feed with all of your friends’ activity. So if they’ve said they’re “interested” in a nearby food market, you’ll see it immediately — no need to trawl through the News Feed, or hunt for the appropriate section inside the main Facebook app.
There’s a search tab too, which lets you filter events by time or location. An image-heavy carousel sits further down with suggestions, pulled presumably from your Likes, history and geographical whereabouts. Finally, there’s a search box if you want to get specific. The calendar tab, accessible at the bottom, will give you an overview of everything you’ve signed up for. It’s not a full calendar app — but if you’re struggling to keep up with your Facebook-related engagements, maybe this can help.
Events’ utility is obvious. Facebook has a massive audience, one that’s attracted almost every type of business and event organiser. That interest has led to a huge number of listings, which could appeal to an equally huge number of people online. Facebook’s job is to pair the two groups together — a simple challenge, you might think, but one that’s grown harder as the platform’s priorities have broadened. Video, livestreaming, friendship anniversary reminders — it’s easy for events to get lost amongst the rest of the social noise. A standalone app could bring them back to the fore.
