Social Media Explained

The number of birthday wishes you receive on Facebook is directly proportionate to how many friends you have. So if you are blessed to have as many “friends” as I do, your birthday wishes can quickly spiral out of control (as of today, I have 1,126 friends).

If you aren’t sure what to do, there are several ways you can handle thanking everyone for their kind thoughts:

1. Ignore: No seriously, you are entitled to not post or say anything. It can be a pain to write “thank you” back to 300 people.

2. Status update: One big blanket “thank you” is less personal, but hey, your time is valuable!

3. Comment on your Wall: Facebook keeps evolving (or devolving – depending on who you talk to). So now when someone posts on your wall, you can comment on their post (as opposed to have a wall-to-wall conversation). This still means that you have to comment on every post, but you can keep the entire conversation on your wall.

4. Comment on their Wall: Some might see this as the most polite thing to do, I see it as the most laborious and not just for time! If I respond with a simple “thank you”, it seems like a flimsy post. So then you have to think of something else to write.

My suggestion is that you do a combination of the above. There is no need to respond to posts that are simple birthday wishes. People don’t expect you to respond when all they write is “happy birthday”. Be sure to update your status with thanks to everyone for making your day special. And for people that posted something above and beyond happy birthday, respond accordingly e.g. “how are you?” will get a “great thanks!” response.

Not sure if you have to wish all your friends happy birthday? Check out my blog on Facebook birthday etiquette.