Late last month, Facebook rolled out its Gifts feature to all U.S. users. Now the social network is making sure that users know it’s an option for birthdays. Recently, Facebook tweaked the top-right corner life events notification area to make Gifts a more prominent factor.
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Companies are figuring out every way to maximize the Facebook experience while users are online, but what about when they’re not logged in? A new project called Yearly Leaf is conducting an experiment in social permanence: by connecting with Yearly Leaf, Facebook users can order a moleskin-bound book recapping a year of their life on the social network.
A group from tech agency R/GA traveled to the Facebook Developers World Hack competition in Austin, Texas, hoping to solve a simple problem: what to write on a friend’s timeline on their birthday. Knowing that “Happy birthday!” is entirely passé, the two developers created an application that suggests a more creative post for a friend’s special day. They ended up winning the best mobile application category at the Austin World Hack.
Want to star in a Broadway show, but afflicted by stage fright? Intel’s Me the Musical makes you the star of a production, and you don’t even have to leave your chair. The app uses information from your Facebook timeline to create a fun history of your life.
The birthday notification has been a mainstay of the top right corner of your Facebook page for years. Soon, another type of notification will join it — one for weddings and engagements. Facebook introduced this new feature Thursday, which allows you to write a quick “Congratulations!” on a newly wedded or engaged friend’s timeline, much like you would on their birthday.
Facebook has ruined birthdays. At least, that’s how tech blog Gizmodo feels. Gizmodo argued that Facebook has cheapened the meaning of birthdays, as everyone from close relatives to classmates you haven’t spoken with in years feels their birthday duties are fulfilled by just posting a message on your wall. How can you make a birthday special again?
Last week we posted a list of 7 Better Ways to Wish Someone Happy Birthday on Facebook, and had a great response from readers. I thought I would compile the best responses from readers into a second list with more tips. Thanks to everyone that commented here and on Facebook.
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With every passing day, the number of friends on our social graphs increases, and our daily “birthday” list increases proportionally as well. Unfortunately, this means that we may sometimes just shoot out the standard “Happy Birthday” message on someone’s wall when we mean to show them a bit a more attention. I came up with a few interesting ways to better wish someone a happy birthday on Facebook.
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Today, Facebook celebrates the 6th anniversary of the launch of Facebook. While the exact date of the founding is not exactly clear (since Mark Zuckerberg and eventually the co-founders were hard at work developing the site before it launched) it marks a major milestone for the company which grew from a dorm room to one the world’s largest communication tools, reaching over 375 million users every month.
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Facebook is 5 years old today, and the social network has admittedly come a long way in those few years. Just take a look at the album Facebook posted, chronicling the layout of profiles from 2005 until now. But what does this 5 year milestone really mean for Facebook? It means that we can all take this opportunity to see what Facebook has planned to ensure it can celebrate another 5 birthdays.
All Things Digital took today’s birthday as an opportunity to reflect on Zuckerberg’s plans for Facebook shortly after launching the website from Harvard’s campus. There’s an air of foreshadowing, considering Zuckerberg didn’t want to sell Facebook then and has stuck to many of his core principles surrounding Facebook ever since.
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