Facebook is putting more alerts for occasions on its right-hand notification bar, as an addition to birthdays.
Facebook has seemed to become a daily organizer as users are relying on the social network for almost anything from ordinary announcements to exciting updates. It is almost impossible to miss photos of an engagement ring or updates about a big move that is why it is making things much easier for everyone.
Celebration alerts like weddings, engagements, and other occasions will be included on the right-hand notification bar of the updated Facebook, aside from the usual birthday alerts.
A Facebook spokesperson said that the network has become “a unique way people share and congratulate friends around exciting life events.” These events pertain to engagements, weddings and even up to the birth of a child.
The update will initially start with the addition of engagements and weddings, and in the coming days, more celebrations will be included in the site’s algorithm. This is part of Facebook’s Events Calendar, which is a separate app that allows users to create, edit, and maintain a monthly calendar in their profile tab; tag multi-day and recurring events through color-coding; and add Google Maps, Facebook contents, and more.
In a report by The Next Web, the new feature opens a door for users to “friend” another user, which your friend is marrying, right from the alert bar.
The network also brought out a restored Events page on Wednesday, allowing users to view friends’ birthdays, suggested events, and event invites on an actual calendar.
“A couple of us felt there should be a better way for people to see their friends’ birthdays a few days in advance and make plans for the weekend. So we built it,” said Facebook software engineer Bob Baldwin in a written post on the social network’s Engineering page. The creation came up during a recent hackathon.
Another inclusion in Facebook’s algorithm illustrating same-sex marriage updates to timeline has just been presented, prior to the celebration alerts, by the firm saying that, “If a user indicates that he/she has gotten married to someone of the same sex as a major life event on his/her timeline, the icon will now show that. It’s a subtle change but it’s part of our broader mission to authentically reflect our users’ real relationships.”
“Thanks to Facebook we are seeing photos of young gay people going to the prom together, and we are seeing committed gay couples getting married. Items like the new icon add to the understanding that same-sex love is the same love,” said Rich Ferraro, vice president of Communications for GLAAD, when asked about the new feature for same-sex couples. However, this isn’t the first time that Facebook has added features to the social network to support same-sex couples. During February 2011, Facebook added civil union and domestic partnership options within the relationship status field.












