(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.
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!
I almost just sent you a tweet saying “Happy Birthday” but then I saw that word: “But…”
I knew that there had to be something more so I clicked through.
1) I love the idea of a second birthday…brilliant.
2) I agree that the Happy Birthday from a stranger is a little weird but even still it feels nice to expand the number of people wishing you well.
I’d been meaning to stop by your blog and say more than just hello, so:
“Hello and Happy Birthday, looking forward to getting to know you better.”
Raggedy ~ I am so glad to see you back blogging again! I hope that you are fniellg MUCH BETTER! I know that I probably reflect the sentiments of all of us when I say; “YOU WERE MISSED!” Sorry to hear about the tornado, but I am relieved to hear that only one person was killed. From the looks of those pictures, it seems like it would be many more.Oh… and I don’t want to forget to wish Jaycee a VERY HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY!!! ~ jb///