If you have had a Birthday in the past five years and are on Facebook, you know your Facebook wall/timeline will be streaming with quick “happy birthday” and “have a great day” messages from friends. Based on my own observations I’d wager that for the average Facebook user their Birthday garners the largest volume of social interaction on their wall/timeline in a single day.
Realizing the popularity of people connecting on a birthday is likely the reason for the new Google+’s birthday notification. The Birthday notification is akin to Facebook allowing you to post on your friends Google+ page, but with one major difference: This notification appears directly on a search result page.
It’s a brilliant move by Google to interrupt a user for a “moment” to wish a friend a Happy Birthday. This momentary interruption will likely give Google+ a needed boost in awareness to average users who’ve never had a reason to stumble into G+.
As an added perk on your Birthday Google will show you the following Birthday Doodle on Google.com:
