Google calendar users, Pride Bear, Black History, Jewish Heritage, such as important cultural events no longer appear to be default in the calendar. This move of the company was subjected to harsh criticism, especially by some users. According to a Google product expert, such events are no longer added to the calendar. Thereupon, many users interpreted this step of the platform as a “political back”. Following a long -standing feedback, Google aims to simplify global calendar integrations with this change.
According to Google, sustainability and manageability is the basis of this decision. Company spokesman Madison Cushman Veld said that it is not possible to manually keep the cultural activities of different countries around the world. Google has been showing official holidays and national commemoration days through a service called Timeanddate.com. However, with the addition of cultural activities over time, significant deficiencies and inconsistencies in the calendar emerged. For this reason, the company has decided to focus only on public holidays and national days since the mid -2024.
Users will be able to add their own activities
Google aims to provide more control to its users with its amendment. Users will now be able to add their cultural and special days to their calendars manually. In the Google calendar application on Android and iOS devices, these settings can be easily replaced. From the Settings menu to the “General” tab, the preferred activities and holidays can be integrated into the calendar. It is aimed that users make a personalization in accordance with their needs.
This development once again reveals the challenges of technology companies while providing services to millions of users around the world at the same time. Platforms with global users have difficulty in meeting the cultural differences and needs of each country at the same time. This requires companies to balance both operational efficiency and improvement of user experience. This decision of Google, allowing users to manage different events more flexible, while at the same time aims to support the sustainability of the platform.
On the other hand, this change was met by some users with discontent. In criticism of Google, it was emphasized that the abolition of cultural activities damages social sensitivity. Some users said the company should support more cultural diversity. However, Google said it is not possible to keep these events in a current and consistent calendar worldwide in the long run. Therefore, he suggested that users make manual arrangements according to their own preferences.
This change in Google Calendar is an important example of how platforms respond to feedback. While companies listen to user needs, on the one hand, the need to ensure operational sustainability. Such balance in the technology sector is a frequently seen situation. In this context, the effective personalization of users’ platforms is critical in terms of adapting to technological developments.
As a result, Google calendar users will now be able to see only public holidays and national commemoration days by default. Manual adding method will be preferred for other cultural activities. Such changes reflect the difficulties faced by global technology services to manage the user experience. Users need to use personalization options effectively in order to provide maximum benefit from the platform.