Make a wish! Facebook rolls out Birthday Videos to help you celebrate

 
Facebook is all about video these days, so the social media giant is creating more of them to put on your timeline.

This isn't new for Facebook. We already have Year in Review videos, Friends Day videos and, for its tenth anniversary, Facebook rolled out Look Back videos that showed a history of your entire time on the social network. This time, it turns out, the videos revolve around your birthday. So how does it work? And who gets the videos?

In IT Blogwatch, we make a wish and blow out the candles.

So what are Facebook birthday videos? Alyssa Newcomb gives us the background:
Birthdays...are...the one day out of the year when exes, friends from high school and that person you met at a party...come out of the woodwork to share their well wishes on your wall.
...
Facebook is now offering another way to celebrate...with a personalized birthday video, which is being rolled out worldwide this week.

But how does this thing actually work? Brad Chacos has the details:
45-second “Birthday Videos” will show up in your feed the day after your big day, displaying “a magical birthday cake that”...burst[s] open to show the “top” happy birthday posts and videos sent by your pals...These videos will only appear if at least three people shoot you a note on your birthday.
...
As with Memories, you’ll have the option to share Birthday Videos...or keep them to yourself. And...you can edit which clips and posts...appear inside your Birthday Video if the algorithms miss something special.

Great, another video. Seems like news feeds are becoming inundated with the things lately. Wondering why? Queenie Wong has some insight into that:
Live video. 360-degree videos. Friendship anniversary videos...the social media giant has been expanding the variety of videos its 1.7 billion users watch...The move could help Facebook attract more video advertising as people turn to their smartphones to watch videos online.
...
“We’re going to become video first”...Mark Zuckerberg said.

Like most Facebook features, some people will love it, some people won't. Morgan Paige, for one, isn't going to make Facebook's job any easier:
Facebook notifications are great for reminding me about people that I don't care about! I unfriend a lot of people on their birthday.