This years Google I/O conference has once again been the platform for some big announcements. The search engine giant has taken further steps to maintain its assertion that it’s fast becoming a major factor in the social media world. After showing off  the most current plans for the Android phone and operating system, and the brand new Nexus 7 tablet , Google turned focus toward its social media network Google+. The announcement of Google+ Events is a direct attack on other social network sites especially eventbrite.com, and adds significant function to the Google+ social network. This article by Damon Poeter in PCmag.com provides good insight into just what Google+ Events will offer users:

Google Intros Google+ Events

Google on Wednesday introduced Google+ Events, a new social planning service available on the search giant’s one-year-old social networking platform.

Google also unveiled its first optimized version of Google+ for tablets.

Google+ Events works before, during, and after a party, unlike other event organization toolkits, which “bail when you need them the most,” Vic Gundotra, senior vice president of social at Google, said during the opening keynote at Google I/O here.

The main difference between Google+ Events and services like Evite is that the party doesn’t stop on Google+ Events when the invitations go out. Gundotra highlighted a “groundbreaking” feature in the new social planner called “Party Mode.” When you turn on Party Mode, all new photos taken by attendees who are on Google+ get added to the event’s landing page in real time as a streaming feed that can also be viewed as a slideshow. After the tables are cleared and the lights are turned out, Google+ Events organizes those photos chronologically.

Which isn’t to say that Google skimped on the invites. The available themes for invitations are “cinemagraphic,” so if you’re planning a backyard barbecue, you can pick an invitation that shows fire flickering on a photo of steak on a grill.

You can also attach a personalized YouTube video greeting and a selection of animations to an invitation, according to the official Google blog.

Google+ Events invites are sent via email and can be fully viewed even if the recipient doesn’t have a Google+ account. There’s even more eye candy with the receiving mechanism—invitations “unfold” like a physical invitation sent via snail mail.

The social planner is tightly integrated with Google Calendar, so invitations plug directly into a user’s schedule and can be viewed in full in the Calendar by mousing over the event.

Google+ Events Video

Google released this video to help highlight the ways that Google+ Events can be incorporated into events and outings.