Arrangement of Face-to-face Meetings Using Social Media

Social networks, especially Facebook as currently the largest one, made the organization of events apparently simpler. Facebook offers the event service, which has greatly simplified the invitation process. Still, organizing an event is usually coupled with the risk of guest's no-show. We report an investigation designed to identify factors that might help predict a person's likelihood of attendance to an event s/he is invited to. Our research tries to combine information research with information technology tool design. The factors affecting the probability were determined by an analysis of data acquired in surveys among hundred and fifty or so Facebook users. We also developed a program that implements (some of) these findings. Simple quantitative and qualitative analyses were carried out on the data, sufficient to identify some of the key factors influencing invitees in their decision to attend a meeting. The factors as identified by the surveys are indeed relevant to attendance of meetings arranged using social media. Our application can help the event creator estimate how many people would attend his event and predict the likelihood of each invitee's attendance. Moreover, the application can also help the invited guest learn which of his friends are likely to attend the same event. Research that combines information side with information technology side can be fruitful as shown by this simple result. There is room for future work in this interdisciplinary space.