Birthday etiquette is hard enough to navigate IRL, but the internet makes everything even weirder. Here’s your guide to do online birthdays with social grace!
Lindsay Lohan, yesterday, asking HuffPost Celeb to RECOGNIZE.
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Birthdays: the best of times, the worst of times. If it's yours, and your friends are at least a little thoughtful, and nothing terrible happens at work, they can be mildly enjoyable reminders of the fact that you keep getting closer and closer to being old/dead. On the other hand, the littlest birthday inconveniences or slights can seem monumental, because we're encouraged to think birthdays mean we're SPECIAL, at least for a day, when they actually just mean we were born.
Then, too, there's the problem of how to deal with everyone else. Whom do you wish happy birthday, and how will you do it?
In the real world, there are just too many variables to address. We can't help you there. (Sorry.) Here, though, is a guide to using your manners when it comes to birthdays on the internet — its own special crisis.
Rule #1: Do what you want! It's your birthday. (Note: birthDAY. NOT birthWEEK.) Facebook is easiest here — if you have your birthday listed, expect a wealth of generic wall posts and greetings. A nice and easy way to acknowledge them is to "Like" each post and, at the end of the day (or the next day), post a status thanking everyone for their greetings en masse. You don't have to reply individually, though it's nice to do if someone wrote you a personalized message.
As for Twitter/Tumblr/Instagram: one birthday-related post per medium is totally appropriate, though you can expect diminishing responses from your followers over time (unless it's a landmark birthday, like 30). Really, the only way to do your birthday wrong on the internet is to do it TOO MUCH — if you're jumping in on other people's tweets to alert them to your birthday, for example, you might be fishing. (Or you might be Lindsay Lohan! In which case, you do you.)
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