Facebook tell them they forgot your birthday

First off, no, it is not my birthday. Not even close.

However, this week was my apparent “work anniversary” for Stompers on LinkedIn. A bunch of people messaged me about it, which was weird. I don’t like that apps automatically post anniversary stuff like this. I also don’t like that most people wish me happy birthday on LinkedIn. Truly an insane feature.

This did get me thinking about remembering (or forgetting) people’s birthdays and the awkwardness that creates for many people. Facebook has (or used to have) an affordance for seeing when someone’s birthday is. What if this was subverted into a tool to go after people who forgot your birthday?

I’ve explored ideas like this in the past, but this is by far my most aggressive exploration, as there’s no option to wish a happy birthday, you’re simply reminding people that they forgot or ignoring them completely. I don’t see a world where Faceook ships this… for obvious reasons, but I would love if there was some way to track this and punish the forgetful, even in a lighthearted way.

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