Facebook Adds New Family Section to Profile for Mother’s Day
To celebrate Mother’s Day this weekend, Facebook announced on Friday that users will soon be able to list their family members on their profile. In the new “Family Members” section, users can add the names of their parents, siblings, and children, just as they’ve always been able to with significant others.
With the number of Facebook users over 35 (and in particular women over 55) is growing rapidly, the option of linking family members on your profile makes sense. Whether or not users will choose to do so will be an indication of how ready they are to more openly share with family – the social awkwardness factor.
We’ve seen the beginnings of connecting with family on Facebook through popular applications such as We’re Related (by FamilyLink.com, with 14 million monthly active users), Family Tree (Familybuilder.com, 3.6 MAU), and Geni (Geni, Inc., 75,600 MAU).
Combined, these apps allow you to find and stay in touch with family, build a family tree, scrapbook family events, and remember family members who have passed away. With Facebook’s new family section, basic features such as Family Status and Family News Feed may no longer be as useful. On the other hand, the introduction of family information in the profile may generate greater demand for family-related apps, as families “become” families online.
May 9th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Interesting if this stays post Monday (i do not see it yet)
May 9th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
I’m more curious about the “Home Neighborhood” field that I just noticed (listed after “Hometown” in the Basic Information section). How long has that been there?
May 9th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
@Micjael i first observed (Basic Info) Home Neighborhood and (Contact Info) Neighborhood about a month back.
May 10th, 2009 at 2:08 am
[...] Par Ianis, le dim 10.05.2009 (10:08), dans Internet Une nouvelle fonctionnalité à été ajoutée à Facebook hier 9 Mai pour la fête des mères (source). [...]
May 10th, 2009 at 7:33 am
Justin,
As the two largest demographics shift life-activities, the desire for family connections will exploded.
Baby Boomer parents have their “nests” emptying and will desire to stay close to their kids, even from afar.
The oldest of the Gen Y are beginning to form families of their own and will want parents to share in their life, somehow.
What Facebook and other developers are doing will facilitate the connecting of these two huge groups. And by linking them, it will drag in all of the other demographics into the party.
The magic of all of this will come as developers take real-life activities and move them into this virtual space to connect families like never before
January 3rd, 2010 at 8:11 am
[...] Une nouvelle fonctionnalité à été ajoutée à Facebook hier 9 Mai pour la fête des mères (source). [...]