Celebrating Your Friends’ Birthdays on Facebook

Part of the Facebook For Dummies Cheat Sheet

Celebrating birthdays on Facebook is a great way to show your friends you care about them. Facebook birthday celebrations are fun, inexpensive, and easy to do. Here's how:

What to Do	What It Is	How to Do It
Write on their Timeline	Formerly called the “Wall,” this public forum usually fills up with well-wishes on a person’s birthday.	Go to a friend’s Timeline, find the Publisher in the middle of the screen, and enter your message.
Poke them	A Poke is a casual gesture that can mean “I’m thinking of you.” Only the recipient is aware of your Poke.	Go to a friend’s Timeline and click the drop down menu on the far right next to the Message button. Click the Poke button.
Tag them in a status update	Status updates are your own posts to your friends on Facebook. You can add tags to posts to give a shout-out to the people you mention.	Go to your Timeline and start typing a status into the Publisher above your Stories. Then, begin typing your friend's name. You can then select your friend's name from the list that appears, and when you post, they'll be notified.
Call them	This is a good old-fashioned verbal birthday wish.	Go to their Timeline, click the Info tab, and look for their phone number located under Contact Info. Use your phone to call them — and maybe sing!