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    Aaron Trippel peers at his list of Facebook event invitations. He has seven.

    "Another SUA? Open mic night at Hash Hall? I don't know how I get all these," he says.

    And although Trippel, Onaga freshman, doesn't know what all the events are or what they are about, he enjoys the invites. He says that they keep him updated on what's going on around campus.

    "Honestly, the only way that I know about things happening on campus is by Facebook or maybe sidewalk chalk," Trippel said. "But Facebook is the big one."

     Trippel is a prime example of how various organizations are now reaching out to students in new ways. Campus groups all around campus are using Facebook event invitations as ways of publicizing events. The events vary from religious events to fundraisers, to movies sponsored by the SUA. With more than 200 million active users, 40,000 of which are in the University of Kansas network, organizations are able spread the word easier.

    An event invitation created in Facebook can only be sent to people who have Facebook accounts. The event may be public or private, depending upon what the event creator decides.  According to Facebook, users create more than 2.5 million event pages each month.

    Joan Stewart, a specialist in free publicity, says that Facebook is an ideal tool to use because it allows groups to expand their target audiences for events.
"It lets you connect through special interest groups," Stewart says. "Facebook has thousands of groups that are devoted to various topics, so if you are a college student who is interested in, say, the iPhone, there is a special interest group devoted to that and you can tap into it."
 
    Grisell Laureano, Hatillo, Puerto Rico sophomore, is a member of the Delta Alpha sorority at the University of Kansas. She and her sorority sisters began using Facebook for their sorority in 2006. They use it to connect with special interest groups such as alumni from various parts of the country. Laureano says that the Delta Alphas have just noticed the effectiveness of publicizing their events by Facebook lately. Laureano says that she thinks it is particularly useful because events show up on the homepage of Facebook and remind people constantly, unlike other forms of communication that can be seen once and forgotten.
 
    "Facebook allows us to reach out in a way that is commonly used in our generation," Laureano says.

    One of the largest on campus Facebook event creators is Student Union Activities, or SUA. SUA creates event invitations for nearly every event that they hold and average about four new events posted on Facebook each week. Spencer Titus, Newton sophomore, is a committee member for SUA. He says that since it is difficult to reach large numbers of people without the aid of the Internet, Facebook invites are ideal.

    "I think it's safe to assume that almost everyone at KU has a Facebook account, so we wanted to utilize that resource as a way to promote our events," Titus said.

    Titus says that SUA committee members usually send out invites to most of their friends, and then rely on the event information to spread from there. He says that messages sent as reminders to those who have RSVP'd as attending or possibly attending really help increase turnout at events.

    Delta Lambda Phi, a colony working towards fraternization at KU, uses Facebook as its main source of publicity for fund raising events. Randy Thompson, member of Delta Lambda Phi, says that the only other way that the group lets people know about events is through word of mouth and that by doing it that way it can be easy to miss people.

    Thompson says that there are some problems with using Facebook event invitations though.
 
    "You get a lot of random people that you don't know at your parties and they don't know how to say hi to the hosts," Thompson said.
 
    Jennifer Meitl, outreach coordinator for St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center, says the center has two different Facebook groups. One is for anyone involved with St. Lawrence, and the other is for the school year 2008-2009. She says she uses the 2008-2009 group for event invitations because she doesn't want to bother everyone.
 
    "I didn't want to bother alumni or others that aren't around Lawrence now, so I decided to make another group," she said. "It's really convenient because I can send an event invitation out to the entire group instead of handpicking people."

    With a limited budget, Meitl said that Facebook helps get the word out in a cost effective way, but she says there are a few problems.
 
    "Number one is that not everyone is on Facebook," she said. "Number two is that I think Facebook is becoming the norm."

    Meitl said that event invitations are becoming increasingly common, which can lead to students getting the invitations but ignoring them. She says to offset that effect, the center prefers to use Facebook as a secondary source of information, first targeting students by calling them, then inviting them to the event on Facebook.
 
    "That way it is much more personal. Students tend not to ignore it. You can be personally invited, then go to the Facebook page to get more information and see the event specifics," Meitl said.

    As Facebook continues to grow, more organizations use it for publicity. Stewart recommends getting the information about events out in as many ways possible, including Facebook, Twitter, Craigslist, and Youtube. She also says that by adding a short video to your Facebook event, you could generate more views and in turn have a much more successful event.