Birthdays are one of most special events of anyone’s life. In this fast-moving world where people are running hurriedly all the time, people tend to forget the important dates of their beloved ones. Facebook not just brought people closer but also helped them stay connected all the time by sending constant reminders of the important events of the lives of their close ones. When even the ones who are very close to you at times might forget your birthday, but Facebook never does.
How has Facebook changed or enhanced the ways by which birthdays are celebrated?
After the advent of Facebook, even those who do not celebrate their birthday with much pomp and fun started celebrating this important day of their life with all the happiness in the world. Facebook has made everyone’s birthday get the same amount of attention as a celebrity’s birthday gets. In fact, birthdays have now become one of the most awaited days. Here, it speaks of the birthdays of their close circle and not just their own birthdays. This is how Facebook has made everyone get the feeling that anyone’s birthday in their circle is as important as their own birthday. This is the timeline of how Facebook has changed how birthdays were being celebrated then and how birthdays are celebrated now.
2005
Facebook was founded in the year 2004. In a year, Facebook has launched a feature called my parties otherwise known as Events. This helped the people to make plans for their life events, be it a birthday or a marriage, and be it anything. This is the first step that the social media platform had taken to bring people closer. Using this feature, people had posted details of the whereabouts of anyone’s birthday and they celebrated together.
2011
The year was a major milestone in the timeline of Facebook. The Timeline was created. Timeline actually comprised of all the wishes, the pictures that people post on one’s profile. The timeline was earlier called the wall, it occupies the central column of the Facebook feed page so that is the first thing that flashes on the screen when you open your Facebook. People start using this feature to send birthday wishes.
2013
The year Facebook started sending notifications about their friend’s birthday. Earlier the profile picture along with the birthday cake emoji and the name of the birthday baby would appear in the top right corner of one’s timeline alone. Though this feature has been retained even today, Facebook keeps sending notifications even for making belated birthday wishes.
2014
The idea of e-cards/e-greetings which people send over e-mail had been adopted to build this feature of posting a birthday wish card on a friend’s timeline. The card could also be sent as a message.
2016
Facebook introduced this feature where people can record a video for about 15 seconds and post it on their friend’s timeline or even send it to their inbox.
The day after the birthday, Facebook sends a personalized video of all the birthday posts that were made on the timeline, the wishes,and greetings etc., This is to show that the team of Facebook were really glad that the person celebrated his/her birthday with all the fun in the world.
Every single day about 45 million people use Facebook’s birthday wishes features to wish their best friend on their birthdays. Instead of posting a Happy Birthday or an HBD or an HPY BDY on the timeline, Facebook had an idea that it would be better if it auto-generates a video that has pictures of the one who wishes and the one who is celebrating. This particular initiative would bring the long-lost memories and make people feel happy and nostalgic about how their friendship has traversed over the years.
In the year 2017, Facebook decided that it would make people’s birthdays even more meaningful with the update of these two features.
2017-Birthday with a cause
It is all fun when you celebrate your birthday with your loved ones. But it brings real happiness when your birth is signified by making someone else’s life better. To initiate this, Facebook came up with an amazing feature called the fundraisers. Those who live in the United States of America can avail this feature. Two weeks before your birthday, Facebook would show up the 7, 50,000 Non-Profit Organizations that have been listed in the fundraiser’s event for birthdays. Those who wish to donate can make use of this feature. Moreover, Facebook also sends a notification to those in your friends list about you coming forward to lend a helping hand and asking them to join if they are interested too.
2017-An improvised Video Version
Facebook had released this new feature where it would show pictures of you and your best friend celebrating your birthday in a personalized video format. These videos can also be saved by preserving memories.
Birthdays have always been a part of Facebook and it is evident from the timeline of features. All these features came up as a result of Facebook’s tireless efforts to make people happy while they are using their social media platforms and also to spread the joy in their lives.
It’s time to show some gratitude
Facebook lets people say they’re good thoughts for you on your birthday. Your friend whom you had last met in high school or college would have posted a long text in your timeline reminiscing your old thoughts along with some great pictures. You can’t simply get away with a short thank you. For all the efforts your friend has taken to wish you, it deserves a much greater appreciation and applause from your side. But, if you are a person who is always at loss of words and yet would love to prove the fact that Gratitude is the attitude that takes you to the altitude, you can make use of the thank you messages that are available in this following links, https://www.makingdifferent.com/thank-you-for-the-birthday-wishes/
This is how Facebook has played a vital role in making your birthday a memorable one.