And events. I use Facebook Events extensively.
As a teen, I'd go to the movies with my friends maybe 4 times a year. Never went to any events. The extent of our fun was playing basketball or just sitting around.
As a teen, I'd go to the movies with my friends maybe 4 times a year. Never went to any events. The extent of our fun was playing basketball or just sitting around.
Similarly, my daughter's GirlScouts troop uses FB exclusively for organizing/announcements/voting, etc.
But they all plan their dances and workshops meticulously in Facebook.
I can mark dances as "interesting" months before they happen and look up later what's coming next week.
That's especially nice for other scenes than your own, in towns two hours or more away.
It's the only thing keeping me on Facebook, because I don't see how to replace that.
Is this popular with American Teens?
I am guessing not. Which kind of makes the GP's point.
And at that point, yes, they start to do everything on Facebook.
But I love nothing more than dancing the night away with great music. I'm a raver. Facebook Events is a game changer.
When I started going to raves you got a phone call from a guy who heard from a guy that there was a layby off a remote B-road that you might want to be at and when you got there another guy would give you directions along an unnamed road to an abandoned airfield and that was where the rave was.
Now we got corporate raves on a public website. The old way was better.
I also have to imagine that sometimes you just want to dance and it's probably nice to not have to jump through a lot of hoops to find a fun party.
It's not so much all-important, but it's the one feature that impacts Facebook-abstainers the most. If someone's planning a party and is lazily using FB events, you'll probably be left out if you don't have an account.
This may be more of a 20+ use case, but either way, Facebook groups provide a sense of community. They are more personal than subreddits and less personal than a group chat.
The 30+ crowd appears to believe that FaceBook is the most logical way to organize events - you can check in on your own schedule, without feeling pressured into immediately responding to someone poking you about joining up. Today's youth has no problem being expected to respond within minutes - or in the worst case, a couple of hours - to an inquiry made via SMS or Snapchat.
ie: Older person: "I may have some free time this weekend, maybe I'll check FaceBook tomorrow to see if anyone is planning something"; vs. younger generation: "Someone snapped our group telling us to come out with them Saturday, I'll decide in the next 5 minutes whether I'm in or out".
In reality FB events are extensively used by ages 16-30 as well for bigger group gatherings, such as going on holiday, going for a weekend somewhere, or something like that.
Your anecdote look like something an older person would charicaturize about youth and elderly.
I don't understand why you'd use FB events for "going on holiday, going for a weekend somewhere." Those things would entail a smaller, tighter knit group with much more communication and planning. Group chat seems like a better fit.
IMO, FB events are really only suitable for things like parties, with an large invite/smaller rsvp dynamic, with mostly broadcast messages from the host.
Yes groupchat is better when it's less than say, 8 people.
FB events are suitable for lots of things, I woulnd't say it in such a reductionary manner like "only parties".