Facebook has started the celebrations of its Graduation Week, in which it congratulates the university students who graduate in this 2020 course through virtual events on Facebook and Instagram starring celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Miley Cyrus.
This series of events aims to allow students who graduate in this course to celebrate together despite being physically separated by the coronavirus pandemic, as reported by the US company in a statement.
The graduation week events will be integrated into a multi-hour live broadcast hosted by American actors Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak that will take place next Friday at 20:00 in Spanish peninsular time.
American presenter Oprah Winfrey will be in charge of delivering the graduation speech, introduced by Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, while singer Miley Cyrus will perform her new song The Climb.
The events will take place throughout the week until this Friday, and include thematic broadcasts dedicated to athletes, comedians, a portrait design contest together with the Brooklyn Museum (United States), and even films directed by the Nigerian artist -British Jenn Nkiru or by filmmaker Chris Wilcha.
Among the guests at the virtual event are also many members of the entertainment world such as Awkwafina, Jennifer Garner, Lil Nas X, Cardi B, Daddy Yankee, Usher, Matthew McConaughey, Gloria Stefan and Luis Fonsi or athletes like gymnast Simone Biles.
Facebook is not the only technology company that has lent itself to accommodate academic graduations, and recently Microsoft has also offered its Teams video conferencing app for free to educational institutions to hold these events until July 1.
Graduation ceremonies through Teams are aimed at Microsoft Office 365 A1 users, free for the educational sector, and operate through the Teams Live event service, with up to 20,000 participants and 16 hours in duration.
Google, for its part, has organized, like Facebook, a graduation ceremony to be held on June 6 on YouTube, which will feature the speech of the former President of the United States and First Lady, Barack and Michelle Obama; singer Lady Gaga; Google CEO Sundar Pichai; and activist Malala Yousafzai, as well as with musical performances.
