LinkedIn groups can be a great way to connect with other professionals, share ideas, and build your professional brand. However, you may be wondering just how public your group memberships are on LinkedIn. Who can see that you’ve joined certain groups? Can your connections see all the groups you’re in? Here’s a look at how LinkedIn handles privacy for group memberships.
LinkedIn Group Settings
When you join a LinkedIn group, you have the option to adjust the privacy settings for that particular group:
- Public: Anyone who visits your profile can see that you are a member of this group.
- Your Connections: Only your 1st-degree connections on LinkedIn can see your membership in this group.
- Private: Your membership in this group will not be visible to anyone else on LinkedIn.
So if you join a group but don’t want your membership to be public, be sure to change the visibility for that group to “Your Connections” or “Private.” The group admin cannot see which individuals have their membership set to private.
Viewing Group Memberships on LinkedIn Profiles
When someone visits your LinkedIn profile, here is what they will be able to see regarding your group memberships:
- Public memberships are fully visible. Anyone can see the groups you’ve joined that are set to Public.
- Your Connections memberships are visible only to your 1st-degree connections. Other LinkedIn members won’t see these groups.
- Private memberships are not visible. Nobody except you can see the groups you’ve set to Private on your profile.
So your 1st-degree connections have the broadest view and can see Public and Your Connections group memberships. Other LinkedIn members can only see your Public group memberships.
Finding New Connections Via Groups
One of the benefits of LinkedIn groups is networking with other professionals in your industry. However, there are limits in terms of connecting with fellow group members:
- You can see a full list of other members within a group you’ve joined.
- You can message any other group member through the group’s messaging system.
- To connect via LinkedIn’s core messaging platform, you must have a shared 1st-degree connection already.
So while groups provide more exposure to a wider range of professionals in your field, you may not necessarily be able to directly connect with every group member. Expanding your shared connections can help provide more messaging and connecting opportunities down the road.
Group Activity Broadcasting
When you interact with LinkedIn Groups – posting discussions, commenting, liking posts, etc. – this activity may be broadcasted beyond the group itself:
- Group activity might appear in the LinkedIn feeds of others members who are connected to you and belong to the same group.
- Some activity, such as new discussion posts, may appear in the feeds of your 1st-degree connections, even if they are not members of that group.
So while your membership in some groups might be kept private, some of your participation in those groups could still be visible outside of the group. Keep this in mind if you want to keep a low profile in certain groups.
Controlling Profile Visibility
Beyond adjusting the privacy settings for each group, there are a couple other ways to control what shows up on your LinkedIn profile:
- Turn off the “Show LinkedIn Group Memberships” profile option. This will remove all groups from your profile visibility. Connections would have to visit the Groups section of your profile to see them.
- Exclude certain groups even if you have the “Show LinkedIn Group Memberships” profile option turned on. Just click the “Exclude this group from your profile” link on a group’s About page.
Using these profile settings, you can fine-tune which groups appear on your profile and which ones stay more hidden.
Group Admin View Level
As an admin of a LinkedIn Group, you have access to view and manage the full member list. This includes members who have their group membership visibility set to “Your Connections” or “Private.” So group admins have the highest level of internal visibility.
LinkedIn Premium Accounts and Groups
Having a Premium LinkedIn account gives you access to some additional group management features:
- Search through member lists of any group that you’ve joined.
- Send InMail messages to fellow group members to connect.
- View profiles of any group member without needing a shared 1st-degree connection already.
So Premium accounts provide more networking flexibility and exposure within your groups. But any visibility limits of a non-Premium account still apply.
LinkedIn Recruiter Accounts
Recruiter accounts on LinkedIn have an even greater level of access and visibility for searching through groups:
- Search member lists even without joining a group.
- View group memberships set to private.
- Identify group members at target companies.
This increased visibility aids in identifying and connecting with prospective candidates through LinkedIn Groups. But standard individual member profiles remain subject to their set visibility preferences.
Conclusion
On your LinkedIn profile, group memberships default to public visibility, allowing anyone to see groups you’ve joined. But customizable privacy settings for each group let you control the visibility from public to private. Some group activity may also be broadcasted to your other connections via news feeds and notifications. While group admins and premium account holders get enhanced visibility, as an individual user you can manage visibility through your group privacy settings and profile options.
Group Visibility Setting | Who Can See |
---|---|
Public | All LinkedIn members |
Your Connections | Only your 1st-degree connections |
Private | Only you |
So in summary, the visibility of your LinkedIn group memberships depends on your privacy settings, profile options, account type, and whether you participate actively in the groups. Adjust these factors appropriately to control what aspects of your group activity is seen by your connections and the public.