Can you unfollow on LinkedIn without removing connection?

LinkedIn is a popular professional networking platform used by over 700 million members worldwide. One of the key features of LinkedIn is the ability to connect with other professionals in your industry or location. However, as your network grows, your LinkedIn feed can become cluttered with irrelevant or low-value updates from some connections.

This is where the unfollow feature comes in handy. Unfollowing a connection on LinkedIn allows you to stay connected to that person but stop seeing their posts in your feed. It can help clean up your feed and tailor it to the content and connections most valuable to you.

What Does Unfollowing on LinkedIn Do?

When you unfollow someone on LinkedIn, here is what happens:

• You stay connected in your network, but their posts no longer show up in your feed
• The person you unfollow will not be notified or aware that you unfollowed them
• You can still interact through messaging, commenting, liking, etc. but only if you visit their profile directly
• You can refollow them at any time to resume seeing their posts

So in essence, unfollowing simply mutes that connection’s posts in your feed. It does not affect your connection, remove you from their network, or limit your ability to interact on their profile.

How to Unfollow on LinkedIn

Unfollowing someone on LinkedIn is a simple process:

1. Go to their LinkedIn profile page
2. Click the “More” icon (three dots) next to the “Message” button
3. Select “Unfollow” from the dropdown menu

And that’s it! As soon as you unfollow, their posts will stop appearing in your LinkedIn feed. You can still find them in your connections list if you ever want to view their profile or refollow them.

Unfollowing vs. Removing Connections

It’s important to understand the difference between unfollowing and removing a connection on LinkedIn:

As you can see, removing a connection is more permanent and public. Unfollowing simply mutes their content from your feed quietly without disrupting the connection.

When Should You Unfollow vs. Remove on LinkedIn?

In most cases, unfollowing is preferable to removing connections on LinkedIn. Here are some general guidelines on when to use each option:

Consider unfollowing when:

• Their content is not relevant to you right now
• Their posts are too frequent or spam-like
• You may find their content valuable again later
• You want to keep the connection for networking purposes

Consider removing a connection when:

• The connection is no longer professionally relevant
• You do not anticipate interacting or wanting their updates ever again
• You notice inappropriate or abusive behavior from them
• You want to declutter your connections list

As best practice, start with unfollowing in most cases if you want to simply remove their updates from your feed. Reserve removing connections only for those you do not see value maintaining a professional relationship with in the future.

Can They Tell if You Unfollow Them?

One common question about unfollowing on LinkedIn is whether the person will know if you unfollow them. The answer is no, they cannot tell when someone unfollows them on LinkedIn.

Unfollowing happens privately without the person being notified. So you can unfollow anyone on your connections list, and they will be none the wiser. It will not disrupt your connection in any visible way.

Pros of Unfollowing vs. Removing Connections

Here are some of the main benefits of unfollowing instead of removing connections on LinkedIn:

• Maintains your network – Keeping a connection even dormant has value in most cases
• Inconspicuous – No one is alerted or may have feelings hurt
• Flexible – You can refollow them anytime you choose
• Less disruptive – Does not visibly break a professional relationship
• Cleaner feed – Removes updates you don’t want without removing connection

Cons of Unfollowing on LinkedIn

The disadvantages of unfollowing are relatively minor, but include:

• Their profile remains in your connections list
• You have to proactively visit their profile to interact or see their posts
• May accidentally refollow them later when you don’t intend to

Who Should You Avoid Unfollowing?

While unfollowing is generally harmless, there are a few connections where it may send the wrong message if you unfollow them:

• Your boss or direct teammates
• Prospects, partners, or clients
• Close colleagues who may notice and feel slighted
• Industry luminaries or influencers you admire

For important business connections, unfollowing could potentially signal disinterest or disengagement from the relationship. Use your best judgment on when unfollowing may negatively impact a key connection.

Can You See Who Unfollowed You?

While you cannot tell if someone specifically unfollowed you, LinkedIn does show you some metrics about your followers:

• Number of followers you have
• Whether that number is trending up or down
• Which recent posts had high engagement vs. low engagement

Reviewing these metrics can give you a general sense of whether you may be losing followers. But there is no way to pinpoint exactly who recently unfollowed you or view a list of followers.

Should You Tell Someone You Unfollowed Them?

No, there is no reason to explicitly tell someone that you unfollowed them on LinkedIn. As discussed, unfollowing is designed to be a private action. Notifying them you unfollowed may come across as passive aggressive or confrontational.

An exception may be if the person is a very close connection asking why they have not seen you interacting lately. In that case, gently explaining you have unfollowed some connections to declutter your feed is reasonable.

But in most cases, do not go out of your way to tell someone directly that you unfollowed them. Simply unfollow discreetly and let the natural distance emerge from not engaging with their posts. If they ask you about their content at some point, you can say you must have missed it in your feed.

Can They Refollow You?

Yes, if you unfollow someone, they still have the ability to refollow you. Unfollowing only affects your feed and whether you see the person’s posts.

It does not prevent them from choosing to refollow you and resume seeing your updates. The connection and options around following remain two-way even after you unfollow someone.

Conclusion

Unfollowing on LinkedIn is a useful feature to curate your feed and focus on the content most relevant to you. It allows you to mute updates from connections temporarily while maintaining the relationship for future use.

In most cases, unfollowing is preferable to removing connections as it achieves the same goal of removing unwanted updates. But it does so inconspicuously without disrupting or severing the connection.

When used strategically, unfollowing can help optimize your LinkedIn feed and ensure you get value from the professional relationships and content you interact with most.