OPINION: Facebook Events – The Dos, Don'ts and FOR-GODS-SAKE-PLEASE-DON'TS

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I remember when I used to actually check Facebook events, and be excited when I received one.

Now I get about five event invitations a day and they’re all useless. They go like this: Coco invites you to “BoomBoom”, John invites you to “My sponsored hamburger-eating session in aid of the Leicester Ice-Hockey team’s new stadium ” or Dolly invites you to “pasta-painting and politics”. Sigh.

I know, it’s partly my own fault for joining random groups over the years. (Why did I fan the page for my friend’s little brother’s club night back in 2009..?) but as an app, Events drives me crackers.

Despite having whip-smart personalisation elsewhere on the site – Facebook events is still a hot mess that requires a lot of spam-sifting to get to the good stuff. As a result the good stuff often gets left behind.

But event organisers don’t help themselves either. Some of them need a lesson. Some of them need to set-up their damn events properly.

I have rage to vent on this topic. I’m venting it now. It’s going to be like The 10 Worst Facebook Status Crimes; 5 More Facebook Status Crimes and the sage Top ten Facebook friend requests you should hit ‘Ignore’ on all over again.

You have been warned. My tips:

Naming your event
Do: call it something straightforward and instantly understandable like “Jamie’s Houseparty”
Don’t: call it something obscure that revolves around an in-joke that only 5% of the guests would know and that only Bob remembers, “Breaking the door in” for example.
FOR GODSSAKE DON’T: call it the same thing as another real thing. This gets so confusing my head hurts. I know Kate & Prince William are unlikely to invite me to their wedding on Facebook but if you call your houseparty “The Royal Wedding” it just short-circuits my brain, my central nervous system flashes up a big 404 sign and I start panic-closing browser tabs. It’s bad.

What picture to use:
Do: use a picture, perhaps one that is relevant or pleasing to look at.
Don’t: be gratuituously offensive. Don’t use a picture of Prince William when it’s not about Prince William.
FOR GODSSAKE DON’T: leave the picture thing blank. You look like spam, I’ll never click on it, and I’ll miss your birthday party even though you are my best friend.

How to describe your event
Do: say what’s going on and why. Stick in a joke sure, but just one. That’s enough.
Don’t: do it all in the style of a. This is embarrassing for you and hard to understand for reader seeking information.
FOR GODSSAKE DON’T: write LOL

Final word of warning:
Is what you are organising actually an *event*? Check this before touching anything on Facebook. Have you lost your phone and want peoples’ numbers. THAT’S NOT AN EVENT. Do you want to generally gather sympathy for a political cause? THAT’S NOT AN EVENT EITHER.

Think people, please think before you create a bad event. Your slapdash approach is hurting people’s heads.

Anna Leach

2 comments

  • Is what you are organising actually an *event*? Check this before touching anything on Facebook. Have you lost your phone and want peoples’ numbers.

  • also
    DONT INVITE PEOPLE WHO COULDNT EVEN COME
    inviting your whole friends list will get people who are on the other side of the world, pr simply cant travel the distance (like maybe a few hundred miles)

    DONT INVITE THOSE YOU ARE REALLY FRIENDS WITH
    almost goes with the first one, but all events are not appropriate for everyone on your list. Make sure you REALLY want the person there or think they would like to come.

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