Expectant parents can announce the good news to their Facebook friends via a brand new Facebook family member status option.

Facebook's 750 million users can reveal their soon-to-be bundles of joy by updating the "Friends and Family" section of their profiles to include an "Expected: Child." Parents can also choose to add a photo, the name of the unborn child and a due date.

Once added, the unborn child is listed alongside family members on the user's profile, and a notification is posted on the user's Facebook wall.







The status option seems to have been quietly rolled out to users last Wednesday, according to the British Daily Mail. At release, "a glitch in the system meant practical jokers could enter their friends' names as expected children," the paper reports. "This has now been fixed."

The Mail also suggests the option is meant to appease expectant parents who would otherwise create profiles for their unborn child — and break Facebook's terms of service.

"We’re always testing new features," a Facebook spokesperson tells Mashable. "Earlier this year, Facebook started providing the option to add an 'Expected: Child' as a way for users to more accurately express their identity."

While some parents-to-be will delight in the ability to share the good news with their Facebook friends, no doubt others will balk at the idea. The Mary Sue Blog points out that the Facebook family member addition could be a potentially awkward one should the pregnancy not go as planned.

[via Laughing Squid]

Image courtesy of Flickr, salimfadhley