Twitter to shower users with balloons on birthdays

New York: If it is your birthday, Twitter will not only make sure that you get happy birthday messages but also animated balloons in your Twitter handle. The micro-blogging site has introduced an option to set your date of birth in its settings menu that will appear on your profile page.

“Starting today (July 6), you will be able to show your birthday on your Twitter profile,” a Twitter blog post read. To add your birth date to your Twitter profile, choose the “Edit profile” option on Twitter.com. Your birth date will be a completely optional part of your profile and you will have full control over who can see it.

“The visibility setting for your birth year is separate from the setting for your birth month and day, giving you the flexibility to share as much (or as little) as you want,” the post continued. By filling out your date of birth, you will get a screen full of balloons and more timely congratulatory tweets.

According to The Verge, the move will help Twitter work out which ads it thinks you want to see. “No matter the privacy level you set, Twitter will use the information for marketing purposes: a note in its support database confirms that the social network will use your birthday "to show you more relevant content, including ads,” it reported.