LinkedIn Tips: Common Questions About Privacy

By Michelle Glennie, The Partner Marketing Group

Have you been looking for LinkedIn tips? And have you looked at the settings you have on your LinkedIn profile?

Here are 3 most common questions I receive about privacy preferences:

Note: All the direction given in the answers below can be found when you are logged into your LinkedIn account, at the top of the screen on the right hand side you will see your name, hover your mouse on your name and click Settings.

LinkedIn Tips: Privacy Q&A

Question:

I am worried about who can see my connections. How can I change this?

Answer:

There is already a good amount of security on your connections. A LinkedIn account is automatically set up to only allow the people that you are connected to, to see your other connections. The purpose behind LinkedIn is to build your network through your connections and therefore the reason why your connections are allowed to see your connections as a default. If you are worried about your connections seeing your other connections, you can change it to only be seen by you on the Profile settings tab, then click on “Select who can see your connections”.

Question:

What do others see when I have viewed their profile?

Answer:

If you have not looked at who is viewing your profile, you can do this quickly from the home screen of LinkedIn in the right hand column. When you see who has viewed your profile you will see a combination of people’s names and some anonymous profiles and some with just some profile characteristics listed. To know what people see when you have viewed their profile, go to the Profile settings tab and click on “Select what others see when you’ve viewed their profile”. You will be given three choices: 1. To list your name and headline, 2. A semi-anonymous profile where they only see some profile characteristics, and 3. Totally anonymous. Keep in mind the purpose of LinkedIn is to network, so the preferred option should be to show your name and headline.

Question:

I get requests for connections from people I do not know. Can I limit who requests a connection with me?

Answer:

The short answer is yes you can limit who can send you a request for connection. You will find this setting on the Email Preferences tab listed as “Select who can send you invitations”. From there you will have 3 preferences: 1. Anyone who is on LinkedIn can send you a connection request (this is the default and the recommended setting), 2. You can set the option to where only people who know your email address can send you a connection request, or if they appear on the list of contacts you have imported into your profile, and 3. Only the people who you have on your imported contact list can send you a connection request. When selecting your setting of choice, remember your objective for your LinkedIn network. If you intend to keep it smaller, then the second option might be best for you; the only issue that you might find is if you have multiple email addresses, your potential connections may not know what email address you have your LinkedIn account affiliated with and enter the wrong address.  To give your LinkedIn profile the most business life, I would recommend the default setting where anyone who is on LinkedIn can send you a connection invitation. Remember just because someone sends you an invitation, it does not mean you have to accept it and on the flip side, if you lock down your LinkedIn account you could be hindering potential future business you have through your connections.

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