Facebook announces new birthday features -- fundraisers and celebratory videos
Facebook has been busy rolling out a batch of new features and even a new look in the last few days. Today the social network is taking the wraps off two more new features, both with a birthday theme.
The one that's likely to be used the most is are new personalized videos which are essentially the photo-slideshows-as-a-video we have become used to from Facebook. The second new feature is the option to "donate" one's birthday, raising money for a particular cause by calling on friends for donations.
See also:
- Facebook launches Watch, a new platform for original shows
- Facebook expands Marketplace across Europe
- Facebook rolls out Trending News to its mobile apps
- Facebook News Feed undergoes a redesign to improve readability and navigation
Although Facebook is announcing these features today, there are two August birthdays in the BetaNews newsroom, and both the video and donation options have already been seen. Now it seems Facebook is pushing the features out to everyone (well, not quite...) and is ready to shout about them.
The video that Facebook creates for you around your birthday is fairly self-explanatory, but the company also introduces the birthday fundraiser:
People often dedicate their birthday to support a cause, and we've seen people using Facebook to raise money for causes they care about. For those in the US, we're now making it easier to do this by giving you the opportunity to create a fundraiser for your birthday directly on Facebook.
Two weeks before your birthday, you’ll see a message from Facebook in your News Feed giving you the option to create a fundraiser for your birthday. You can create a fundraiser for any of the 750,000 US nonprofits available for fundraising on Facebook. Your friends will receive a notification inviting them to support your cause in honor of your special day.
While fundraisers are currently only available in the US, birthday videos should be available around the globe.