LinkedIn is a popular professional social networking platform used by millions of people around the world to connect with other professionals, find jobs, publish content, and more. One of the features of LinkedIn is the ability for users to add their birthday to their profile. This often leads to the question – does LinkedIn tell people or notify your connections that it is your birthday?
Does LinkedIn Automatically Notify Connections about Your Birthday?
The short answer is no, LinkedIn does not automatically notify your connections or contacts that it is your birthday. Simply adding your birthday to your LinkedIn profile does not trigger any notifications to be sent to your connections on your birthday.
There are a few reasons for this:
- LinkedIn is positioned as a professional networking platform, so birthday notifications are not a core part of its functionality.
- LinkedIn wants to avoid spamming people with too many notifications.
- Birthday notifications can be seen as more social in nature rather than professional.
Therefore, if you want your LinkedIn connections to know it’s your birthday, you have to manually notify them yourself. LinkedIn does not have an automated process for this. The responsibility lies with you to inform your connections about your special day.
How to Manually Notify Connections about Your Birthday
If you do want your LinkedIn network to know about your birthday, there are a few ways you can manually notify them:
- Update your LinkedIn profile headline to say “Birthday Boy/Girl” or “It’s My Birthday!” for the week of your birthday.
- Post a status update that it’s your birthday and thank people for the warm wishes.
- Personally message your close connections wishing them and letting them know it’s your birthday.
- Share a LinkedIn article or post related to your birthday and accomplishments over the past year.
These manual, personalized notifications allow you to notify your network in a customized, non-spammy way. You get to choose who to notify and how. It’s more meaningful than an automated message.
Who Can See Your Birthday on LinkedIn?
Even though LinkedIn doesn’t notify your connections, your birthday is still visible on your profile for certain people to see:
- 1st degree connections – These are people you are directly connected to on LinkedIn who you have either accepted an invite from or invited to connect.
- 2nd degree connections – These are connections of your 1st degree connections. You can change your settings to limit visibility of your birthday to only 1st degree connections.
- LinkedIn Premium subscribers – Part of the Premium package allows users to see full profiles of other users, including birthdate.
So while your entire network may not see your birthday, it is visible to your direct connections. If you want to limit visibility or turn off the sharing of your birthday altogether, you can adjust the settings in your profile.
How to Adjust Visibility of Your Birthday on LinkedIn
If you want to limit the visibility of your birthday on LinkedIn, follow these steps:
- Go to your LinkedIn profile.
- Click on the “Me” icon at the top of your LinkedIn feed.
- Select “Settings & Privacy”.
- Go to the “Profile” tab.
- Under “Profile visibility”, adjust who can see your birthday.
- Save changes.
You can also turn off showing your birthday altogether. On your birthday setting, simply select “Only Me” to prevent it from being displayed at all.
Pros and Cons of Displaying Your Birthday on LinkedIn
There are some pros and cons to consider when deciding whether to display your birthday on your LinkedIn profile:
Pros
- It’s a way to personally engage your network and share something unique about yourself.
- Helps others learn more about you and find common ground.
- Could spark interesting conversations and well wishes.
- Shows you want to be transparent and are open to sharing.
Cons
- Some prefer to keep birthdays private and separate from professional networking.
- Opens you up to marketing emails/calls on your birthday.
- Age can negatively impact job search, so displaying birthdate has risks.
- Some cultural objections to sharing birthdays openly.
Ultimately it’s a personal choice whether to display your birthday. There are reasonable arguments on both sides. Consider your preferences, career stage, cultural norms, and who you want celebrating your special day!
Other Social Networks’ Birthday Notification Practices
For comparison, here is a look at how some other major social networks handle birthdays and notifications:
Platform | Automatic Notifications? |
---|---|
Yes, posts on timeline and sends notifications to friends. | |
No, but can manually tweet. | |
No, but can manually post. | |
Snapchat | Yes, sends gift and notifications to friends. |
No, have to post and notify manually. |
As you can see, practices vary widely across social platforms when it comes to birthday notifications. Facebook and Snapchat embrace the social birthday notifications, while other networks like Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn leave it to users to broadcast their birthdays.
Best Practices for Birthdays on LinkedIn
Based on the above analysis, here are some best practices for how to handle birthdays on LinkedIn:
- Manually post on your birthday if you want to share the news with your network.
- Personalize messages to close connections to thoughtfully notify them.
- Use birthday as an opportunity to post meaningful life or career updates.
- Review privacy settings periodically and adjust birthday visibility as needed.
- Respect cultural norms of your network regarding openly discussing age or birthdays.
Following these tips will allow you to share your special day in a professional, meaningful way on LinkedIn without spamming your network.
Conclusion
In summary, LinkedIn does not automatically notify your connections that it is your birthday. The responsibility is on you to manually share the news through status updates, posts, and personalized messages. Be thoughtful about who you notify and frame it in a professional context. Review your privacy settings periodically and leverage your birthday to build deeper connections on LinkedIn when appropriate. With the right strategy, you can engage your network around your special day.