Building a New Communications – Google+ events

Social media seems to have hit that point in the market where any new release is viewed as “just one more thing” in a saturated platform. Internet giant Google understands this, but also understands that sometimes all that is required to get people interested again is not to make a new mousetrap but to simply make a better one. This is what Google set out to do with its Google+ events. This new offering from the company is equal parts social media, photo sharing app and method of bringing people together for any sort of gathering. Because Google has been already omnipresent in most Internet apps and platforms, the Google+ event is fully integrated and intuitive for use.

Cyber/Real Time

In making its better “mouse trap,” Google decided to build something that would incorporate the cyber and real worlds. Google+ events was built on the idea of getting the word out to real friends and people via social media; creating invites to the events; having a social media platform for attendees that allows them to upload real-time photos and video/notes and messages. While Google borrows heavily on familiar social media platforms, the addition of the real-time and on-site uploading has made Google+ events an enigmatic presence for online use.

In order to make this happen, Google needed to do two things: create the social media platform/integrate existing platforms (Facebook and others); and figure out how to set up the invite process for RWH (Real World Hangouts). A set of tools off the Google+ events homepage easily takes care of the first issue. Templates with themes, fonts and settings allow users to create professional-looking invites for anything from a child’s birthday party to corporate conventions or meetings.

Google includes a set of add-on tools that allow syncing from the invite to a variety of calendar programs, letting the invitees hit a button or two and having the date/time upload to their particular schedule or calendar app. Links on the invites also allow the invitees to RSVP in a variety of methods including email, tweet, IM, or real-time chats. Not only that, but full logs of the chats can be stored and recorded to add to the Google+ event page for the event when it happens.

For the event itself, invitees are given password access to the event’s wall; photo, video and audio upload sections. Imagine having people uploading photos/videos or music at the same time it is happening for things like weddings, parties, graduations or other ceremonies. Relatives that would not have normally been able to attend get to experience the event through the cyber-world, even though it is happening through the RWH. Google’s new app opens up a world of possibilities, pun intended.

Google email users and others with Google accounts have the option to use their existing accounts to set up Google+ event pages and sites. Imagine the possibilities with this new structure. Reunions become a breeze to organize and alert the class as a result of the intuitive interface. Those who cannot attend get to experience the event as it happens instead of waiting for the “day after” leftovers. Google has once again recognized that new doesn’t have to be different. It knows new can be improving on what exists to begin with.