Facebook has a new feature – they have launched “Birthday Stories”. And to commemorate this, they commissioned research with YouGov Galaxy to find out what we like most about their birthdays.
But first let’s take a look at Facebook’s new “Birthday Stories”. This feature allows users to add photos and videos to a friend’s or family member’s story on their birthday. They simply tap on the notification, shoot or upload a photo or short video, and an eye-catching birthday wish is instantly shared.
10 fun facts about how we feel about their birthday
The most popular ways Australians celebrate their friend’s birthday online is to send them a direct message (56%), posting on their Facebook wall (44%) and sharing a favourite memory with the friend (21%).
84% of Australians have something they love about their birthday. Most commonly the things that Aussies love most about their birthday are hearing from old friends and family (53%), getting presents (41%) and eating cake (34%).
Almost three quarters of Aussies (72%) say there is something that annoys them about their birthday.
Millennials (80%) are more likely than Gen X (72%) and Baby Boomers (69%) to say there is something that annoys them about their birthday. Most commonly what most annoys Australians about their birthday is getting older/feeling older (55%), getting too much attention (27%) and people forgetting it (23%). Almost half of all Australians (48%) admit they have felt lonely on their birthday.
The things that have helped Australians feel more connected on their birthday are calls from friends and family (74%), people posting on their Facebook wall (36%) and colleagues celebrating their birthday at work (24%).
More than three quarters of Australians (78%) say they have ways to ensure they remember people’s birthdays while 22% say they don’t do anything special and occasionally do forget.
Men (28%) are more likely than women (15%) to say they don’t do anything special and occasionally do forget.
42% of Australians remember people’s birthday because they are friends on Facebook and they get sent a notification when they are celebrating a birthday, 38% of Aussie’ put a calendar reminder in their phone for all the important people in their life and 24% of Australian’s transfer birthdays from their old wall calendar to their new calendar each year
Three quarters of Aussies who have forgotten a birthday (76%) say they took steps to make up for it. The remaining one in four people (24%) say they didn’t do anything to make up for forgetting the birthday.
The most common actions people take to make up for forgetting a birthday are to apologise profusely (62%) and to write them a special message in a card to say how much they really meant to them (35%). Three quarters of Australians (75%) admit that they have forgotten someone’s birthday with 31% saying they forgot completely and 44% that they initially forgot but then remembered the day after/after a few days.
- This study was conducted on the YouGov Galaxy online omnibus survey between 5-10 December, 2018
- The survey was conducted amongst a nationally representative sample of 1,076 Australians 18 years and older.
- Age, gender and region quotas were applied to the sample.
- Following the completion of interviewing, the data was weighted by age, gender and region to reflect the latest ABS population estimate.
