LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform with over 810 million members. As a social media platform focused on career and business connections, LinkedIn takes a different approach to birthdays compared to more personal social networks like Facebook.
Does LinkedIn Send Birthday Notifications?
No, LinkedIn does not send automatic birthday notifications or reminders to your connections. LinkedIn does not have a built-in feature that alerts your connections that it is your birthday. This is different from Facebook, which proactively notifies your friends and family when it is your birthday.
The reason LinkedIn does not send birthday notifications is because it is positioning itself as a professional networking platform rather than a personal social network. LinkedIn wants to maintain a professional environment focused on career networking and development. Sending birthday reminders would make LinkedIn feel more personal and less professional.
Does LinkedIn Show Birthdays on Your Profile?
Yes, LinkedIn does give you the option to display your birthday on your profile. You can add your birthday when editing your profile under the “Demographics” section. Your birthday will then be visible on your public profile for all connections to see.
Displaying your birthday on your profile allows your connections to discover when your birthday is coming up. However, the onus is still on your connections to remember your birthday rather than LinkedIn proactively reminding them.
Does LinkedIn Let Connections Send Birthday Messages?
Yes, LinkedIn provides a way for connections to send you birthday messages or wishes through its messaging platform. When it’s your birthday, your connections can send you direct messages congratulating you or wishing you a happy birthday.
To help facilitate this, LinkedIn displays a balloon icon next to your name on your birthday. This visual indicator alerts your connections that it is your birthday and encourages them to send you birthday messages.
How to Get Birthday Messages on LinkedIn
Here are some tips to increase the likelihood of receiving birthday messages on LinkedIn:
- Add your birthday to your profile so connections are aware of your birthday
- Be active in LinkedIn groups and participate in discussions to build connections
- Proactively wish your closer connections a happy birthday so they will reciprocate
- Include a reminder about your upcoming birthday in your weekly LinkedIn newsletter update
LinkedIn Compared to Facebook Birthday Notifications
It’s useful to compare how LinkedIn approaches birthdays versus Facebook:
| Platform | Sends Automatic Birthday Notifications | Displays Birthday on Profile |
|---|---|---|
| No | Yes (optional) | |
| Yes | Yes (always visible) |
As you can see, Facebook takes a much more proactive approach to birthdays with automatic notifications and required visibility on profiles. LinkedIn maintains a more professional, less personal tone by making birthdays optional.
Should LinkedIn Add Birthday Notifications?
There are good arguments on both sides of whether LinkedIn should add automatic birthday notifications:
Pros of Adding Birthday Notifications
- Could increase user engagement on the platform
- Would encourage more personal connections on LinkedIn beyond just professional networking
- Would be appreciated by many users who want to feel recognized on their birthday
Cons of Adding Birthday Notifications
- Goes against LinkedIn’s mission of maintaining a professional atmosphere
- LinkedIn users often dislike features that make the platform too “social media-like”
- Notifications could get annoying or overwhelming if you have too many connections
Overall, LinkedIn will likely avoid adding birthday notifications in the near future to maintain its professional brand image. But never say never – if enough users request the feature, LinkedIn may eventually add it down the road.
How to Get Notified of LinkedIn Connections’ Birthdays
If you want to be proactively notified when your LinkedIn connections have birthdays coming up, you have a couple options:
- Export your LinkedIn connections list and import it into another app like Facebook that provides birthday notifications.
- Manually add your connections’ birthdays to your calendar app and set up notifications.
- Use an external LinkedIn automation tool that scans profiles and sends you reminders of upcoming birthdays.
The downside to these workaround options is it requires extra effort on your part to get birthday notifications compared to platforms like Facebook that have it built-in.
Key Takeaways
- LinkedIn does not automatically notify connections of birthdays – it maintains a professional environment.
- You can display your birthday on your LinkedIn profile for connections to see.
- Connections can manually send you birthday messages through LinkedIn messaging.
- To get notified of others’ birthdays requires exporting data and using external tools.
- LinkedIn is unlikely to add birthday notifications soon since it goes against their brand image.
Conclusion
LinkedIn takes a hands-off approach to birthdays compared to other social networks. Don’t expect automated birthday notifications from LinkedIn, but you can display your birthday on your profile and receive messages from individual connections. If getting birthday reminders is important to you, you’ll need to use workaround solutions to get notifications of your LinkedIn connections’ special days.
