How To Turn Off LinkedIn Birthday Notifications (and why you might not want to)

“Thanks for the post. I have a question for you. I’m now getting notifications for people’s birthdays — much more than I used to, I believe, and perhaps in conjunction with the recent overall changes. Is there a way to opt out of birthday notifications? Please??”

From your mobile device…
If you’re on a mobile device in the LinkedIn app, you can swipe to the left on a birthday notification and a gear icon will appear that will let you opt out of all birthday notifications:

From your laptop…
If you’re on your laptop, you can click on the three dots in the upper right-hand corner of the birthday notification and you can opt out of all birthday notifications:

BUT WAIT! Here’s why you might want to think twice before you opt out of birthday notifications…

Who doesn’t like to be told Happy Birthday on their birthday? I don’t care what people say, telling someone “Happy Birthday” is a nice gesture and makes a person, for at least one day a year, feel extra special. Additionally, from a business standpoint, telling someone “Happy Birthday” on LinkedIn is a great way to reconnect and maybe start a conversation with someone you haven’t talked to in awhile.

Social networks (especially business networks like LinkedIn) are about ENGAGING with/HELPING/GIVING to other people…a simple Happy Birthday message takes two seconds. Are you really too busy to take two seconds to make someone in your professional network smile and feel grateful that you took a minute to think about them? Something to think about before you turn off those birthday notifications.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment below. If you’d like to know more about our LinkedIn Training, Blogging or Website services, you can reach me at 913-645-6650 or mic@bluegurus.com.

Paula says:

April 20, 2017 at 8:07 am

Thank you for the information about turning off birthday notifications. While it is always appreciated to receive authentic birthday wishes from friends and close colleagues, I am not interested in receiving birthday wishes from casual connections on LinkedIn who learn about my birthday from a notification and click a response button. Let’s be honest, the connections feature does not necessarily equate with a close friend or colleague. LinkedIn’s efforts to capture my Yahoo account includes everyone from painting contractors I contacted for an estimate to healthcare providers. Many connections are based on groups, while others are folks soliciting business. If someone is a connection on LinkedIn who is a close friend or colleague, then they’ll send their wishes in person, email, snail mail, or Facebook. Otherwise, I find the birthday notification thing to be a bit creepy and unwelcome. Engagement on LinkedIn should be about professional activities. Perhaps similar to a mid-life crisis, LinkedIn is experiencing a “wannabe Facebook” crisis. Again, if I have a close-enough and relevant-enough professional relationship with someone, we’ll have knowledge of birthdays and other personal information. Thank you.
1. Mic Johnson says:
  
  April 20, 2017 at 11:06 am
  
  Paula,
  
  Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. You make some very good points. In the end, it’s up to each person on LinkedIn how they wish to engage people in their network…
  
  Thanks again for reading and commenting.
  1. Charles says:
    
    April 5, 2018 at 7:41 am
    
    I was looking for a way to remove the same and came across this. I agree with Paula and your final statement that at the end its a personal choice.
    I removed the notification from Facebook and only a very few people (handful) wished me especially immediate family. Half of those are the ones in LinkedIn and that’s how I ended up here looking at how to remove that too. How many people really care enough to know your birthday.