Living in an era of algorithms, there’s a lot you should be aware of when flaunting your habits on any digital platform.

From a click to a hover, every action is being watched.

So let’s take a look at Facebook Events.

According The Daily Beast, “more than 700 million people use Facebook Events per month and over 130 million Facebook events were created last year”.

Because of this, RSVPs come with a slew of deeper connotations that can be hard to comprehend:

That is because a “no” RSVP isn’t just an admission that you’re not going to be able to make it to the gathering. A no can actively downrank the event in the Facebook algorithm because fewer people see it, whereas a yes promotes it.

Downrank event? That’s how much power you hold, so just be responsible about it.

“When someone RSVPs ‘yes’ or ‘interested’ to an event, that event may be surfaced in their friends and friends friends feeds,” Facebook spokeswoman Emilie Fetterley told The Daily Beast.

[Did you know that when your mom likes your Facebook post, Facebook immediately thinks it’s family-related so doesn’t show it to your friends. It’s called the Mom Problem.]

Daily Beast continues:

It’s easy to label people who RSVP yes to almost all Facebook events then fail to show as assholes. But a yes to a Facebook event shouldn’t be read as an indication that that person has any plans to attend. In fact, affirmative RSVPs are becoming the de facto response among friends.

Pffft, if I don’t want to attend an event I will not say yes – but Americans seem to have a different etiquette:

Mary, a 29-year-old in Washington, D.C., called the first few hours of a Facebook event’s lifespan “crucial.”

“It sucks to have people RSVP ‘no,’ especially the sort of people who pull others with them when they RSVP yes,” said Mary. “When I’m hosting, I will text the top people I invite and who know can come and have them RSVP yes on Facebook immediately. When I’m invited to something a friend is hosting, I’ll RSVP ‘yes’ pretty much always, or just not RSVP if I’m not going. A ‘no’ is worse than not responding at all.”

What admin.

At least when scrolling through the names of those who have been invited, you can see who has seen your event and who simply missed the notification. Then you can text message someone to check in with their RSVP status.

At the end of the day, a simple ‘Interested’ will suffice. It’s neutral, doesn’t imply one is attending and if you don’t go, then hell, at least you considered it.

And it’s classic Cape Town behaviour in that it’s non-committal.

But I say, just do what you want.

[source:dailybeast]