Petra you are the boss of your account! That is the message on the LinkedIn Settings and Privacy page (insert your name). They are found by clicking the drop-down arrow next to “Me” underneath the tiny picture of your gorgeous self (in the menu bar). There are three main categories with twelve subcategories: 76 SETTINGS TO DEAL WITH! Not going to bore you with all of them, but there are some you really have to look at! Advertising Preferences, Representing your Organisation, and Profile Viewing Options for example.
ACCOUNT – PRIVACY – ADS – COMMUNICATIONS
As we know, LinkedIn continually develops, meaning features come and go. This isn’t always noticeable in everyday use. It doesn’t hurt to add a repeat reminder to your calendar, to check your LinkedIn Settings & Privacy quarterly. The three main categories are Account, Privacy and Communications. They each have subcategories that each have multiple items. 4 tabs, 16 categories, 76 settings!
Dizzy yet? Not to worry, it is all very organised and easy to review. I’ll explain some below the screenshot. Not all, not even half, as I pride myself on short blogs that just take minutes to read.
LET’S LOOK AT SOME OF THOSE 76 SETTINGS…
Representing your organization, this is a tricky one. In the olden days, if the company you work for advertises on LinkedIn, your profile picture and name could be displayed with it. To be honest, I have not been able to find if this is still the case. You do show up in “company insights” to users with a Premium Business, Sales Navigator or (some) Recruiter accounts. That can look like this:
Other insights are: Total Employee count, New Hires (with profile pic, name, clickable link to profile), notable company alumni (with profile pic, name, clickable link to profile). Up to you to weigh up professional visibility against privacy.
Advertising preferences: I’ve always put this on ‘no’, but once again it comes down to personal preference. You will get to see advertisements regardless. Unless you install the “Adbock Plus” extension in your browser (highly recommended, no affiliate). If you leave this setting on yes, you’ll see targeted ads based on your interest. If you set it to no, you’ll get random advertising.
Profile viewing options: This is where you decide to openly smile at someone or secretly check them out. Occasionally there are good reasons to stay under the radar. If you are a therapist and checking out LinkedIn profiles of your clients, they might feel creeped out. Not sure why, as it is only your PROFESSIONAL life displayed. If you are open to a new position or new clients, be open! Let people know they sparked your interest enough to check out their profile!
HAVE A GOOD LOOK AT THE COMMUNICATIONS TAB
How many emails a day to you delete without opening? I suggest if you are on LinkedIn daily, you can turn off all e-mail notifications. You will see the little notification bell on LinkedIn anyway. Just if you are a member of groups you don’t visit daily, set the email notification for those groups on a weekly digest, to quickly scan what is happening.
Download your data: this is a pretty nifty feature. I know you would never download your connections to then add them to your newsletter or otherwise spam them. It is handy to have your network in Excel though, a lot easier to analyse your network by: First Name, Last Name, Email Address, Company, Position, or Connected On date. More fun (for the ego) it is to download your recommendations! In the olden days, you could only download your full data archive, now you can pick and choose, go have a look!