Facebook has introduced new ways for people to celebrate theirs and their friends’ birthdays on the social network.

Now, US Facebook users will be given the option to give back on their birthdays by creating a fundraiser to accompany their celebrations. Two weeks before their birthdays, users will see a message from Facebook in their News Feed giving them the option to create a fundraiser for any of the 750,000 US nonprofits available for fundraising on the platform. Friends will receive a notification inviting them to support the cause in honour of the special day.

In addition, Facebook has introduced shareable birthday videos – similar to the videos that friends can share to celebrate how long they’ve been Facebook friends for. The personalised videos are presented to users on the day of a close friend’s birthday, and can be shared if the user chooses to.

“People come to Facebook to send well-wishes and celebrate birthdays with friends. In fact, every day more than 45 million people give birthday wishes on Facebook, which is why it’s important to us to ensure you can celebrate the way you want to,” said Mike Nowak, product director at Facebook.

“Birthdays have always been a part of Facebook, and we hope to continue providing you with a variety of experiences that make celebrating on the platform fun and meaningful for you and your friends.

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