Why Are There Fireworks On Facebook? How To Make…

Saturdays are for sharing photos on Facebook, and this Saturday, New Year's Eve, is certainly no exception to the rule. But while everyone's uploading photos kissing their significant others while you stand there downing Champagne (or is that just me?), Facebook will be introducing a festive update for a limited time. Today and tomorrow you'll be able to see a Facebook fireworks animation on your news feed, so you can really get in the celebratory spirit. And I mean, aren't we all glad — and extremely relieved — this nightmare year is finally coming to a close? The answer, of course, is yes.

To be clear, your timeline isn't going to be a constant, chaotic stream of fireworks. I don't think anybody would enjoy that. But between now and New Year's Day, if you post or click on certain key phrases, you'll see fireworks explode across your feed. I just tried it — I posted "Happy New Year" and then quickly deleted it because it's not quite time yet — and I saw the fireworks. Pretty cool, right?

The good news is you don't have to keep posting "happy new year" messages over and over if, like me, you want to watch this animation on repeat. If you try it out, you'll notice that when you post "happy new year," Facebook automatically changes that text to blue. So here's where it gets fun: That text is actually a hyperlink, and when you click on it you'll also see fireworks. So to recap: You can see the fireworks by posting "happy new year" (or perhaps other festive phrases I haven't tried out yet) and by clicking on those phrases in your friends' posts. As if you needed another reason to stay on Facebook for hours when you could be doing better things.

But the festivities don't end there. For anyone intending to live stream their New Year's Eve, Facebook is introducing masks in Live. Whether you're using Facebook Live to broadcast your resolutions, a recap of your year, or your celebrations, you'll be able to do so with a festive New Year's Eve mask.

So happy new year, everybody. Enjoy your celebrations both on and off Facebook.

Images: Giphy (2)