Famous Birthdays Today
Type of site | Private |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Current status | Active |
| Written in | HTML, JavaScript |
Famous Birthdays Today is a popular American website that serves as a comprehensive database for the birthdays and key facts about celebrities, influencers, and other notable figures.[1] Based in Santa Monica, California, the platform has become a go-to resource for fans and curious individuals looking to learn more about their favorite personalities.[2][3]
Background
The original Famous Birthdays Today website was launched in 1996 by Edward Morykwas, a schoolteacher from Michigan. Initially, the site focused on providing e-cards for users to celebrate special occasions.[4][5]
The site was updated to its current format in November 7, 2012, by Evan Britton,[6] who has since described the website as "Wikipedia for Generation Z".[7][6] Famous Birthdays originally focused on more traditional celebrities (such as actors, athletes, musicians, etc.), but has since expanded to also feature internet personalities.[2] This shift came after Britton discovered that visitors were searching for individuals unfamiliar to him; at first mistaking the traffic as spam, he realized that the searches were of people with online followings such as Cameron Dallas.[7]
Status
In 2015, Britton's eighteen-person team attended VidCon.[7] As of January 2018[update], it had over 150,000 biographies.[6] In July 2018, Famous Birthdays Today launched Famous Birthdays Español, a Spanish-language version of the site.[1] In 2019, it had 20 million unique visitors each month. The same year, journalist Taylor Lorenz of The Atlantic described a Famous Birthdays Today page as a "status symbol" or "badge of honor" for internet personalities, noting its teenage and Generation Z demographic[7] and Lorenz for The New York Times calling it a "a milestone in any influencer's career."[8] As of June 2024 the website received 20 million unique visitors each month.[9]
Features
Despite its name, Famous Birthdays Today also includes entire staff-written biographies. Each page has a "boost" button—each visitor who clicks this button will "boost" the biography higher up into the "trending" or "most popular" rankings. Online celebrities may canvass their followers into swaying them higher into the rankings by encouraging them to press the "boost" button.[7] Biographies tend to be of the same length, despite the relative fame of the individual in question.[9]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Gutelle, Sam (July 9, 2018). ""Wikipedia For Gen Z" Famous Birthdays Launches Spanish-Language Site". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on October 14, 2022. Retrieved October 14, 2022. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Wright, Mic (2015-06-10). "What you know about fame is wrong and this site proves it". The Next Web. Archived from the original on March 30, 2018. Retrieved 2018-03-30. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Kuo, Benjamin F. (2013-05-14). "Carving An Internet Niche With FamousBirthdays.com". Socaltech. Archived from the original on August 1, 2016. Retrieved 2018-03-30. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Free Press Site of the Week - February 4, 2001". Detroit Free Press. 2001-02-04. p. 54. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
- ↑ Callender, Sara (February 22, 2001). "Happy Birthday Everyone". Troy Eccentric Newspaper.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Gutelle, Sam (January 23, 2018). "How Famous Birthdays Uses 500,000 Daily Searches To Build A Database Of Gen Z Culture". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on November 27, 2020. Retrieved October 14, 2022. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Lorenz, Taylor (July 25, 2019). "A Wikipedia for Generation Z". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on October 17, 2022. Retrieved October 14, 2022. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Lorenz, Taylor (May 26, 2020). "Step Chickens and the Rise of TikTok 'Cults'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Famous Birthdays wants to be the Wikipedia for Gen Z". The Economist. 13 June 2024. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
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