(This is an update on a post I published two years ago when I was younger!)

Birthdays are wonderful even at age 51.  The alternative to getting older, well.. isn’t so wonderful.  I also enjoy when my  friends, business associates, social media buddies and clients (ie-people you actually know) remember it’s my birthday.  I realize it’s not that hard to remember with Facebook reminding you, but it is still a great gesture.

What is plain weird, is when people who don’t know me send me an email, tweet or write on my Facebook wall  to “personally” wish me a Happy Birthday.  They may see my profile on Facebook, Linkedin, or Twitter and see it’s my birthday. While I appreciate the time they took to do this (or sometimes it takes no time at all – it’s automatic!) and their good intentions, it’s just plain crazy and I am not sure their motivation.  A once a year Happy Birthday greeting doesn’t build relationships.

In an unwired world, they would never know it’s my birthday.  Many of these people, I have not talked to, exchanged email, tweets or wall posts in years or ever for that matter.  It is especially nuts when Yahoo reminds me it’s my birthday.  Services that I long forgot I signed up for send me a Happy Birthday card.

Sara and I - 20 years ago

To remedy this, I think we need to establish two birthdays now.

One that is our true birthday that we only celebrate with our friends and people who really know us.  We then pick another date that we always wanted to celebrate our birthday on (like Feb 29th, and go ahead, pick a new year too!) and list that as our birthday on all of our extended social media network profiles for those “friends” to celebrate with us.  This way, we can be remembered twice a year and your real birthday remains that much more special.

So go ahead, I love the birthday wishes, but use it to start a real conversation and not just a once a year greeting!