Facebook has added a new tool to its Family Tree feature, letting expectant parents add unborn children to the “Friends and Family” section of their profiles by selecting “Expected: Child” on the drop-down list.
The move has stirred controversy from privacy advocates, and the tool is implemented so that parents-to-be wouldn’t break Facebook’s rules by creating a profile for someone who is very underage.
The new selection is available under “Friends and Family” on the Edit Profile page. There is also the option to add more than one child’s name.
The extra demographic information from users could be a gold mine for Facebook’s targeted ads, and the social network has been expanding the ways profiles can be categorised.
Earlier this year, Facebook added options for users to say they were ‘in a domestic partnership’ and ‘in a civil union’, in addition to statuses such as ‘married’ and ‘engaged’.