The humble online calendar is advancing. This longstanding and unsexy format rarely gets updates or attention during developer-conference keynotes like Google I/O. But in the last few weeks alone, we’ve noticed a sudden pattern and an uptick in updates to online calendars. We’ll call it calendar tech.
The reason for this pattern isn’t representative of any sudden realization or land grab for online-calendar market gaps. It’s rather due to a recent batch of updates from the sector’s biggest player: Google. But it’s still notable in its sudden acceleration, and the updates themselves seem to be well placed.
This follows our related analysis last week about the evolution of workplace meetings and the recently-heightened awareness around their cost to any organization. So to document the latest, and to commit to tracking calendar tech in the coming weeks, here’s our roundup of new calendar features.
1. Google Calendar Gets Transactional
First on our list is a new feature in Google Calendar that lets individuals and SMBs book paid appointments. This takes standard and longstanding calendaring functions like booking time on someone’s calendar and professionalizes it for service bookings, including a transactional flow.
This builds on Google Calendar’s native functionality for bookings, while it integrates Stripe for the transactional functionality. This means that users need a new or existing Stripe account to connect to Google Calendar. Standard Stripe fees will apply while Google won’t be taking a cut.
This could be valuable for freelancers and very small businesses (VSBs) like music instructors and tutors that operate on time-based services. They can send a link to customers to book and pay, which generates all the standard calendar invites and appointment details. Calendly offers a similar feature.
2. Google Calendar Gets Self-Bookings
Speaking of Calendly, Google Calendar launched a feature aimed right at its core function: self-bookings. For those unfamiliar, Calendly’s core value proposition – emphatically loved by its users – is to email a link to subjects who can self-book themselves. (disclosure: we use it for podcast episode bookings)
Calendly users can pre-set their availability slots for months in the future and simply send (or publish) a personalized link where their subjects can book slots. The reason people love it is that it eliminates the standard back & forth of endless emails to manually align calendars then send a meeting invite.
And that’s what Google now offers in Google Calendar. Its advantage over Calendly will be fitting integrations. for example, it can integrate self-bookings natively in places like Gmail. An option now exists in the Gmail toolbar to “Create an event” or “Offer times you’re free,” which activates a link.
3. Google Calendar Gets Location & Status Updates
Late to the party when it comes to the social standard of status updates, Google has integrated a function that tells the world what you’re up to and where you are. Applying mostly to those with shared calendars (such as Google Workspace accounts with several colleagues), you can indicate your 10-20.
This comes in the form of a new event type called “working location” which you can set to places like “home office” – obviously relevant in the hybrid work era. To be fair, Google already offered location sharing for days of the week, but now gets more granular with dynamic location throughout a given day.
The reason this could be valuable for hybrid-work mavens is to set the proper context for colleagues. When they know where you are and when you’ll be there, they can plan accordingly to get on your calendar for face time (or Facetime). The feature will roll out immediately for Google Workspace users.
So there you have it. we’ll keep watching for more…
