LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform, with over 722 million users worldwide. As a social media site focused on career networking and development, LinkedIn allows you to connect and engage with other professionals in your industry.
However, with such a large network, many LinkedIn users wonder how much of their activity their connections can see. What information is visible to your connections and what stays private? Let’s take a look.
What Your Connections Can See
When you connect with someone on LinkedIn, you are giving them access to certain information on your profile and activity. Here is what your 1st-degree connections can see:
Your Profile
Your connections can view your full LinkedIn profile, including your photo, work experience, education, skills, endorsements, recommendations, interests, groups, volunteer experience, certifications, awards, and more. They can also see your “About” summary and headline.
The only part of your profile your connections can’t see is your contact info, such as your email address and phone number. You control who can view your contact details.
Your Activity Feed
Your connections can see the posts you share on LinkedIn, including articles you post or write, images, links, and text updates. They can like and comment on your posts.
However, you can choose exactly who sees your posts using audience selectors. For example, you can share a post only with your 1st-degree connections, 2nd-degree connections, a particular LinkedIn group, or just yourself.
Your Comments and Posts in Groups
When you interact in LinkedIn groups, your connections can see your comments, posts, and engagement within those groups. For example, if you post an article in a LinkedIn group, all members of that group would be able to see it.
Likes and Endorsements You Give
When you “like” or endorse someone’s content or skills, your connections can see that activity. For example, if you endorse a connection for a particular skill, your other connections will see that endorsement.
Profile Views You Make
Your connections can see which profiles you view. LinkedIn displays this activity in a “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” section on each user’s profile. The list of names is visible to your connections.
Searches You Make
Your connections can see deidentified, aggregate data on the searches you make on LinkedIn. For example, LinkedIn may inform your connections that “You searched for marketing managers in Chicago this week.” But individual profiles you view will not be shared.
What Stays Private From Your Connections
While your connections can see a good amount of your activity, there are still many things that stay private and are not visible to your network:
Your Entire Browsing History
Although your connections can see individual profile views you make, LinkedIn does not share your entire browsing history. They only see isolated instances of profile viewing.
Posts You Mark as “Just You”
As mentioned previously, you can mark posts as visible to “Just You” using LinkedIn’s audience selector. When you do this, connections cannot see the post.
Job Applications
Your connections will not be notified when you apply to jobs through LinkedIn. Your job applications remain private.
Salary Information
If you choose to display your salary information on your profile, your connections still won’t be able to see it. Salary data always remains private.
Articles You Read
LinkedIn does not share the articles you click on and read with your connections. This activity is private.
Your Email Address and Phone Number
As mentioned earlier, your connections cannot see your contact information like email and phone number unless you add them as a contact.
Your IP Address
LinkedIn does not share your IP address or device information with other users. This data stays private.
How to Control What Your Connections See
As you can see, your LinkedIn connections have visibility into some of your activity, but other information remains private. If you want to control what your connections can see, here are some tips:
- Be selective with your profile information. Don’t add anything you don’t want connections seeing.
- Use audience selectors when posting. Choose “Just You” if you want to limit visibility.
- Be careful liking and interacting within groups. This activity is public.
- Review your settings. LinkedIn gives you privacy controls over things like profile viewing.
- Connect only with people you know and trust. Be selective about who you add to your network.
Conclusion
LinkedIn offers users a robust professional networking platform to connect with colleagues and advance their careers. However, it does require some openness and sharing between connections.
As a LinkedIn user, it’s important to understand what your connections can and can’t see. While they have visibility into some areas like your profile, posts, and group activity, other information remains private like your job applications and browsing history.
By carefully managing your settings, audience selectors, and connections list, you can ensure you are comfortable with the information being shared. This allows you to maximize the benefits of networking on LinkedIn while maintaining boundaries and privacy.