14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook has introduced an interesting new option to the list of family members, soon-to-be parents can now share their joy with the world with the "Expecting: Child" option. Facebook has quietly added this option which enables users to list family members that haven't been born yet.
This was probably in response to the more and more people who set up profiles for the yet-to-be-born kids and even post in their name.
While parents probably they're being cute, not to mention highly original, it is against Facebook terms which states that users must be 13 and older.
The new option is a way of letting everyone know the good news, but it doesn't do much else than list the baby as a member of the family. It's no replacement for a Facebook profile, but at least it's something.
With people sharing more and more these days, it's perhaps a welcome addition for many people. And it's an optional feature, nobody is forcing anyone to use it.
Still, many people will end up using it, perhaps without thinking that not all pregnancies are successful. A tragedy could be made worse by having this reminder on Facebook, not to mention having to 'broadcast,' in a way, the loss by removing the family member.
In the end though, it's not that bad, it's just a simple feature that some people will use and enjoy, but should probably cause no more harm than the relationship status setting.
And, just as many people don't really bother with the relation status option, regardless of whether they're in a relationship or not, perhaps most people won't bother with this option as well.
And it's likely not going to stop people from setting up fake accounts for their unborn kids just as they do for their cats, dogs and everything in between.