Facebook saw friendship posts double in 2017 as it celebrates 'Friends Day' on 4 February

Twice as many posts about friendship were shared on Facebook in 2017 than in 2016, Facebook said, marking its 14th birthday on 4 February. “More than 600 million ‘Friendversary’ videos were shared in 2017 and people in India made most friends in the last year. On an average, nearly 750 million new friendships were formed each day in the platform,” Facebook said while celebrating “Friends Day”.

Representational image. Reuters

On “Friends Day”, Facebook reminded people to show their gratitude for the friends in their lives through a special product experience called “Friends Awards”.

From 4 February, people in India started seeing a message from Facebook at the top of News Feed with a personalised video wishing them a ‘Happy Friends Day’. After the video ended, people were shown “Friends Awards” from the video, where they could share any or all of the pre-made awards or even create their own for a friend from a list of templated awards. The awards covered a spectrum of activities between friends, some based on actions between friends and others based on fun insights that only the two friends would know.

In addition, the social media giant also gave away “Global Friends Awards”. While the Philippines created the most ‘Groups’, Mexico posted the most ‘Love’ reactions on the platform in 2017. Brazilians were the most camera-ready people with the maximum tagged photos, US citizens posted the most “eating” activities, Britain had the most international check-ins, Australians created the maximum events, people in Germany shared the most birthday posts and Indonesia had people with most friends per person in 2017.

Further, as part of “Friends Day”, Facebook would also celebrate the day with a series of short films that highlight remarkable friendships. For people who want to participate in other ways, the company would also feature three unique “Camera” filters for friends to share and celebrate the day with #LiveWithFriends, a special live series running from 2 February- 4 February.