Facebook Events Are About To Look Different

This article originally appeared on 60 Second Social. 

Starting this week, Facebook will be rolling out new “cover art themes” which can be applied to the events you create on Facebook. Why? Well there is nothing worse than plastering a terrible looking pixelated photo on an event that you know is going to be epic. Facebook wants to help you make the right first impression so that people actually want to go to said event.

The cover art aims to add a bit of personality to events such as birthday party invites, concert posts or whatever event you may be hosting. So if you are hosting a party you can choose a piece of cover art which conveys party time instead of one of your old party photos or a random Google image from someone else’s party.

There will be 36 themes to choose from and categories will include things such as seasons, holidays, party, travel, food and drink. Of course if you still want to upload and use your own photos like before that is still an option which remains. However, surely having cover art is going to make all the events look the same. Surely using your own photo is different and helps you to stand out right?

Well according to Kevin Schaefer, Facebook events product designer, he said that:

“One of the interesting things I’ve noticed is rather than choosing an alternative photo, they don’t pick a photo at all.”

He is right too, how many events have you been invited to which don’t have any photo uploaded and attached to it? I know for me I see events like that constantly, Facebook is betting you will use one of their own ready to roll images instead of not using one at all.

Facebook certainly seems to be pushing towards more visual content, just look at the Messenger app which is now loaded with GIFs, stickers and emoji for users to get their hands on. It certainly seems that Facebook wants to make moves to grab your attention more than before and visual content such as illustrations is definitely the right way to go about it.