Many people countdown the seconds until midnight with friends and family. Others are alone, and Facebook had just the thing to bring some New Year cheer to those sadly staring at their news feed.
Photo: Getty
Witness Facebook’s little fireworks animation when you tap on a trigger phrase like, “Happy New Year!” Engadget seems to imply there are other trigger phrases as well but no others are mentioned specifically. We tried it out and can confirm that typing “Happy New Year!” results in blue, clickable text. Fireworks appear that look like this:
It genuinely feels kind of melancholy in action. No sound is heard, just a quick little burst of colour appears. That’s about as exciting as those plastic party poppers that are supposed to shoot streamers but just end up plopping out a ball of wadded up tissue paper.
There’s nothing wrong with this modest Easter egg. Hopefully, everyone finds it delightful and moves on with their lives. For me, it just feels like a reminder of all the ways that Facebook wants to creep into my life and replace various important IRL experiences.
[Engadget]