Twitter has added a new birthday feature to its platform, the social networking site announced on Monday. Twitter users will now be able to celebrate their birthdays on the micro-blogging site with colorful virtual balloons and celebrations.
An optional feature for users
In a blog post, Ricardo Castro, product manager at Twitter, wrote that the users can now enter their birthdays, and will “have full control over who can see it.” Also, the new feature is “completely optional,” noted Castro. Users will also be able to choose whom to share their birthday with their followers, people whom they follow, the public or “only me.”
The privacy or limited visibility setting for the feature, allows user “the flexibility to share as much (or as little) as you want,” thus making it more helpful for users. Castro also wrote that by making these personal celebrations easier, users will feel thrilled as well as delighted. Twitter, an inseparable part of life for millions of people, will now also be a part of the celebration of their personal and relevant occasions.
As an example, Castro showed the American actor-comedian Kevin Hart’s account, which included his birthday and displayed with virtual balloons on his profile page. As Kevin is a public figure, his activity will definitely motivate the public to do the same on the micro-blogging site.
HBD feature profitable for Twitter the most
Thanks to Twitter it will be easier to remember the birthday of friends and family members. One can add a date of birth to a Twitter profile by pressing the “Edit Profile” option. A user can enter his or her birth month and day or the birth year separately.
However, not everyone thinks this is a worthwhile feature. Before adding their birthdays to profiles on the micro-blogging site, users should think twice, Jeffrey Chester, a privacy supervisor told USA Today. Chester, an executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, notes that Twitter, which is dependent on ads for revenues, can never match Facebook and Google. By adding a birthday feature, it is just trying to earn “few more pennies” from advertisers by making use of “information about our birthday and who celebrates it.”
It is a fact that knowing one’s birth date can help in targeting ads. Even Twitter acknowledges that birthday feature can be used to “show you more relevant content, including ads.”
