Quick answer: Yes, it is possible to hide the number of connections you have on LinkedIn and other social media platforms to a certain extent by adjusting your privacy settings. However, the total number of connections is always viewable to you, and connections can still see your profile and that you are connected.
On LinkedIn, you can choose to hide your connections from your public profile so other viewers can’t see who you are connected to. You can also hide the number of followers you have. However, your 1st-degree connections will still be able to see your full connections list when logged into their own accounts. So you can’t fully hide your total number of connections from connections themselves.
Some other things to keep in mind when trying to hide your LinkedIn connections:
– Profile views – Even if you hide your connections, when someone views your profile it still counts toward their daily profile view limit and shows you looked at their profile. So they know you exist and are connected.
– Network updates – When you like or comment on a connection’s post or activity, you can be revealed as a connection through notifications.
– Recommendations – If you give or receive a recommendation to/from a connection, it will be public on your profiles unless settings are changed.
– Search – You can still come up in searches of connections for common schools, employers, etc.
So in summary, you can hide connections to a point, but can’t fully conceal the fact that you are connected to certain people if you actively use LinkedIn’s features. The total number of connections is always fully viewable to you as well. Other platforms like Facebook offer similar privacy settings to hide friends lists and followers.
Why Would You Want to Hide Your Connections?
Here are some common reasons why people want to hide their number of connections on social networks:
– Privacy concerns – You may not want the whole world knowing who you are connected to out of privacy reasons. Hiding connections protects those relationships.
– Reduce unwanted contact – Since connections are often used as a recruiting and sales tactic, hiding them can reduce random outreach.
– Avoid looking boastful – Posting a huge number of connections or followers could be seen as bragging rights, which some prefer to avoid.
– Professionalism – In some jobs like politics, law, or healthcare, flaunting connections is considered unprofessional.
– Harassment concerns – Public figures and women in particular sometimes hide connections to protect against online harassment.
– Competition – Sales professionals may not want competitors knowing their network size and breadth for competitive reasons.
So in general, people want to control how much of their network is public to maintain privacy, security, discretion, professionalism, and competitive advantages. The ability to hide LinkedIn connections can help achieve those goals.
How to Hide Your Number of Connections on LinkedIn
Here are the steps to hide your number of LinkedIn connections:
1. Go to your LinkedIn profile page and click “View profile” to pull up your public view settings.
2. Scroll down and click the “Connections” visibility setting on the right side.
3. Change the toggle from “Your connections” to “Only you.”
4. Scroll down and also change the “Number of connections” setting to “Only you.”
5. Click the “Save” button at the bottom to apply the new settings.
This will remove the connections section entirely from your profile. The number of connections and list of connections will now only be visible to you when logged into your account.
Note that 1st-degree connections can still see your connections within their accounts, and you can’t hide the total number from yourself. But this does maximize privacy from the general public and search views of your profile.
Other Ways to Hide LinkedIn Connections
In addition to the steps above, here are some other ways to conceal your LinkedIn network size:
– Hide your followers count in settings.
– Be selective in who you choose to connect with. Don’t accept connection requests if you want to limit associations.
– Use the “Blocked” feature to prevent specific connections from seeing your full profile.
– Be strategic in who you like, comment on, and recommend to avoid indirectly revealing connections.
– Adjust notification settings so you don’t broadcast when you view profiles or make connections.
– Use LinkedIn’s “Private mode” when browsing profiles you don’t want to show up in your viewing history.
– Remove past positions and education that expose connections through shared associations.
– Change visibility of your name in searches to reduce being found by connections.
So in summary, use a combination of privacy settings, discretion in your activity, and being selective in connecting to curate your network more privately. But know the total number is still fully visible to you and 1st-degree connections.
Pros and Cons of Hiding Your LinkedIn Connections
Here are some potential advantages and disadvantages to weighing when deciding whether to hide your LinkedIn connections or not:
**Pros**
– Increased privacy and protection of your relationships
– Avoids looking like you’re bragging about your network size
– Reduces unwanted outreach from recruiters or sales prospects
– Prevents competitors from researching your client relationships
– Creates a more professional discreet presence
**Cons**
– Makes it harder for new connections to find you organically
– Reduces your visible social proof and credibility
– Limits ability for connections to discover each other through you
– Recruiters may be less inclined to reach out regarding opportunities
– Could seem secretive like you have something to hide
So in summary, it improves privacy but potentially hurts your networking power and leveraging your connections. It’s ultimately a personal choice based on your priorities and comfort level with publicity.
How to Hide Connections on Facebook
Facebook also allows you to hide your friends list and follower count. Here’s how:
1. Go to your Facebook profile and click on the “Friends” tab.
2. On desktop, select the drop down next to “Friends” and choose “Edit Privacy.” On mobile, click the 3 dots icon next to “Friends” and select “Edit Privacy.”
3. Adjust the toggle for “Who can see your friends list?” to “Only Me.”
4. You can also adjust the “Who can follow you?” toggle to limit public access to your follower number.
5. Click “Confirm” to save the changes.
This will remove the friends list section from your public profile and replace it with a message saying you’ve chosen to hide your friends list. You can still see the full list yourself when logged in.
Should You Completely Hide Your Network?
While the options are there to hide your connections, followers, and friends lists, most professionals don’t recommend taking it to the extreme of total concealment for these reasons:
– Some connections can still be revealed through normal activity.
– It reduces your discoverability and networking potential.
– Recruiters and business prospects may be less interested without social proof.
– It can come across the wrong way like you’re being secretive.
– You don’t get the full value out of a social network if everything is hidden.
Instead, find a balance that makes sense for your goals. For example:
– Show a reasonable number of connections, but not the max.
– Display some followers, but not all.
– Be more restrictive with personal Facebook versus public LinkedIn.
– Use privacy settings without fully restricting all visibility.
The ideal approach is calibrating settings to your specific priorities and situation versus completely concealing connections. Have a reasonable and thoughtful strategy instead of absolute privacy.
Conclusion
In summary:
– You can hide your LinkedIn and Facebook connections and followers to a certain extent with privacy settings.
– However, you can’t fully conceal connections from 1st-degree relationships or your own view.
– Reasons to hide your network size include privacy, reducing recruitment outreach, avoiding bragging, and professional discretion.
– But potential downsides are reduced networking, less social proof, and seeming secretive.
– Find a balance between showing some connections for credibility vs. hiding others for privacy based on your goals and priorities.
– Don’t take an all-or-nothing approach, but use discretion in who you connect with and what you share publicly.
Hiding your social media contacts can make sense depending on your specific circumstances, but balance is better than complete concealment in most cases. Focus on managing privacy and professionalism without undermining your networking capability online.
| Platform | How to Hide Connections | Things to Note |
|---|---|---|
| – Change profile visibility settings to “Only you” for connections list and number of connections | – 1st degree connections can still see your contacts | |
| – Edit privacy settings for friends list and followers to “Only me” | – Connections revealed through likes, comments, tags |
Key Takeaways
– Adjust platform privacy settings to hide connections lists and totals
– Can’t fully conceal from 1st degree connections
– Find balance between hiding some connections while still showing credibility
– Completely restricting all visibility may do more harm than good
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are answers to some common questions about hiding social media connections:
Can I hide my LinkedIn connections from my connections?
No, 1st degree LinkedIn connections can still see your full connections list when logged into their own accounts. You can only hide it from public profile views.
Does hiding connections also hide who viewed my profile?
No, hiding your LinkedIn connections does not prevent specific people from seeing that you viewed their profile if you look at it while logged in.
Can I prevent someone specific from seeing my LinkedIn profile?
Yes, you can block individual connections on LinkedIn to remove their ability to view your full profile while logged in.
What about 2nd degree connections on LinkedIn?
2nd degree connections will not be able to see your connections list based on your privacy settings. Only direct 1st degree connections have access.
Is there a way to hide my network size just from new people?
Not directly. The settings to hide connections apply to anyone not already in your network. You would have to manually choose who to connect with carefully.
Can I keep my total connections visible but hide the list of who I’m connected to?
No, on LinkedIn the settings to hide connections will conceal both the list of connections and total number together.
Will hiding connections also remove shared connections?
Yes, when you hide your LinkedIn connections it will also remove the ability for others to see which connections you have in common.
What’s the limit on number of connections I should show publicly?
Professional consensus seems to be showing 500-1000 connections on LinkedIn maintains credibility without excessive bragging. But personal comfort level varies.
Expert Tips on Managing Your Network Visibility
Here are some best practice recommendations from social media experts on balancing visibility with privacy for your connections and followers:
– Be more open on platforms used for professional networking like LinkedIn, and more private on personal networks like Facebook.
– Periodically review your connections and remove any you don’t want to be associated with publicly.
– Avoid connecting with contacts you want to keep completely discreet like certain clients or investors.
– Use platform tools like LinkedIn’s “Blocked” feature judiciously for specific relationships you want to restrict, rather than hiding connections from everyone.
– If trying to limit recruiters, change settings for your name visibility in searches instead of hiding all connections.
– Keep your profiles fully visible to 3rd degree connections and beyond to allow discoverability by new contacts.
– Customize notification settings so you don’t automatically alert connections when looking at their profiles or updating connections.
– Monitor your digital footprint regularly to be aware of what connections, associations, and network size is visible.
– Remember less is more. A smaller high-quality network inspires more confidence than an inflated number of connections.
The key is being thoughtful about curating your connections, tailoring visibility to each platform purpose, and using privacy tools sparingly for specific cases versus everyone.
How Network Visibility Varies by Industry and Role
Here are some examples of how expectations and norms around connections visibility tend to differ across industries and roles:
**Sales & Business Development**
– Typically show large networks as social proof of connections.
– Important for establishing credibility by displaying client relationships.
– But may hide select strategic clients from competitors.
**Accounting & Finance**
– More conservative culture often values privacy and discretion.
– Modest connections size shown to avoid flashy appearance.
– Might fully hide connections to reinforce careful image.
**Engineering & Tech**
– Functionality, skills and data matter more than connections.
– But some visibility shows ability to build business relationships.
– More focus on followers and sharing insights than connections.
**Healthcare**
– Critical to hide any patient relationships and protect privacy.
– More restricted in highlighting professional ties due to regulations.
– Follow norms of patient confidentiality and privacy above all.
**Legal Services**
– Protect confidentiality of clients by limiting visible ties.
– But also need to display legal professional network credibly.
– Balance by showing law school and firm affiliations rather than client relationships.
**Government & Politics**
– Public visibility of supporters expected, but controversial ties are risky.
– Hide connections that could raise ethics concerns if revealed publicly.
– Must weigh transparency vs. prudent relationship management.
So considerations around connections visibility spans a wide spectrum depending on your profession and industry norms. Assess what’s typical and expected in your field when calibrating social media settings.
How Seniority and Experience Affects Appropriate Network Visibility
Network visibility often varies over the course of a career as well. Here are some examples:
**Entry-Level**
– Focus on quality over quantity in early career connections.
– Avoid perception of overstating connections at this stage.
– Build network slowly through genuine relationships.
**Mid-Career**
– Moderate network size establishes credibility and readiness for advancement.
– Balance showing experience while maintaining professionalism.
– Expand connections through alumni, conferences, and industry circles.
**Executive**
– Large network expected at leadership levels as social proof.
– But too many connections can seem like ego-driven.
– Emphasize quality, diversity and exclusivity of network at senior levels.
**Retired**
– Shift to limiting visibility of extensive network accumulated over career.
– Maintain privacy and discretion as public figurehead status diminishes.
– Focus on close personal connections more than professional contacts.
So early in your career, avoid appearing to inflate your network artificially. The middle stages call for building legitimate connections within your industry. And later on emphasize curating a premium network rather than quantity.
Final Thoughts on Strategic Relationship Visibility
Some final points to close on managing public visibility of your professional relationships:
– Don’t assume fully hiding connections provides true privacy – many relationships still surface through regular activity.
– Balance showing credibility through some visibility against needs for discretion in certain ties.
– Consider industry culture and career stage norms when calibrating your settings.
– Recognize that less can be more when it comes to network size. Quality over quantity.
– Avoid extremes of either total visibility or total privacy. Find the right middle ground.
– Periodically review and refine your visibility as your priorities and position evolves over time.
– Use tools judiciously to restrict specific connections rather than hiding from everyone.
– Remain aware that 1st degree connections have access regardless of your profile settings.
So be thoughtful, strategic and deliberate in how you showcase your professional relationships online. Seek balance, moderation and customization when it comes to connections visibility for your situation.