If you and your friends and family still haven’t jumped on the Google+ bandwagon, there is a new feature on the site that just may entice you. Google+ Events made its debut on June 28, and it is proving to be a one-of-a-kind event invitation/photo sharing tool that was designed with full user interaction in mind.
The tool allows you to pick a theme for your invite by providing over 50 beautifully shot photographs and well-designed pictures that you place as a banner at the top of your invitation. Next, you give the event a title and provide the location, date and time. Google Local and Google Maps are integrated with the invite, so guests can easily access directions to the event from their desktop, laptop or tablet computer or mobile phone. You can also add extra details about the event, such as “no gifts, please” or “BYOB.”
Once you have finished designing your invitation, you will click on the names of your guests. This can be as easy as choosing your Friends and Family circle(if you want to invite everyone in that circle). Otherwise, you can simply type the names of your guests in the search box. If you want to invite someone who doesn’t have a Google+ account, simply type in their email address. When everyone has been invited, click send. If your guests choose to receive invites via Google Calendar, the event will be added to their schedule for reference. If guests have questions or comments, they can simply send them through the event invitation, and you will be notified to reply.
Besides a better-looking design, Google+ Events is pretty similar in function to Facebook’s event invite tool. However, there is a feature that does set it apart; Party Mode. Once at the event, Party Mode sets in to allow guests to take photos with their mobile devices and immediately share them through the event’s Google+ page. Guests and Google+ users can then add comments and name tags to photos. Photos can also be watched in a slideshow format.
Google+ Events can also be used by businesses as a marketing tool to invite customers to special events and sales.
Google+ Events was launched on Google+’s first year birthday. Since launching the social media site one year ago, Google+ has added 250 million members and hopes to have 400 million members by the end of 2012.
