LinkedIn is the largest professional networking platform, with over 722 million members worldwide as of April 2022. Many people use LinkedIn to connect with colleagues, clients, recruiters and others in their industry or location. One of the main activities on LinkedIn is following other members in order to see their profile updates in your feed and expand your professional network.
A common question for LinkedIn users is – do people get notified if you follow them on LinkedIn? The short answer is no, they do not receive a notification. LinkedIn does not send alerts to members when someone new follows them. This allows you to follow people discretely without them being notified.
Following Someone on LinkedIn
Following another LinkedIn member means you have subscribed to their profile updates. Their new posts, articles, comments, profile changes etc will appear in your LinkedIn feed. To follow someone:
- Go to their LinkedIn profile
- Click the “Follow” button next to their profile photo
Once you follow them, their activity will start appearing in your homepage feed. You can stop following them at any time by clicking the “Following” button on their profile.
Do They Get a Notification?
When you follow someone new on LinkedIn, they do not receive any notification or alert about it. Your new follower is anonymous to them. This allows you to quietly follow people without them knowing.
For example, you may want to follow a recruiter at a company you’re interested in, a potential business partner, a former colleague, industry leader or anyone else. They will not know you are now following them.
The person you followed will not get an email, LinkedIn message or any other notification that you started following them. The only way they would know is if they look at their own list of followers and notice you there. But most LinkedIn members do not regularly check their followers list.
Who Can See Your Followers?
Your list of followers on LinkedIn is private and anonymous. No one else can see who follows you on LinkedIn. The only person who can view their followers is the account holder themselves.
To see your own followers:
- Go to your profile
- Click “See all” under the follower count shown near your profile photo
This will display the full list of people currently following you. But this list is not visible to anyone else. Your followers remain anonymous to other members.
LinkedIn’s Notification Settings
While new followers do not trigger notifications, LinkedIn does have profile update notifications you can configure:
- You can get notified when someone views your profile
- You can get notified when someone shares/comments on your content
- You can get weekly or daily digests of your LinkedIn activity
But again – these notification settings do not cover new followers. The act of someone following you remains invisible and does not trigger any alerts.
Use Cases for Anonymous Following
The fact that LinkedIn doesn’t notify people of new followers opens some unique use cases, such as:
- Following companies or thought leaders in your industry to see the content they post
- Following recruiters at companies you want to work for, without them knowing
- Following former colleagues, classmates, business partners etc to stay in touch
- Discreetly following prospects, potential partners, media contacts etc
You can expand your LinkedIn network by following people who would be beneficial connections. Since they are not notified, you don’t need to worry about spamming anyone or making unnecessary solicitations.
Following Companies
One of the most common uses of anonymous following is to follow companies. Nearly every company has a LinkedIn Company Page that publishes content. Following these company pages allows you to see job listings, news announcements, blog articles, events and other updates from that organization. You can quietly follow companies you are interested in – such as past employers, desired future employers, vendors, partners, investors, acquirers, clients, target markets etc. You can follow company pages to research them and stay on top of their news.
Following Recruiters
Similarly, you can follow recruiters who work at companies that are hiring. Recruiters frequently post job openings on their own profiles. By following recruiters, you can find relevant job listings and insider information on hiring needs at those companies. When you apply for a role at the company, you can reference the recruiter’s posts to showcase your interest. And the recruiter has no idea you were even following them.
Following Former Coworkers
If you want to discreetly keep in touch with former colleagues, you can follow them to see updates on their new jobs, projects, life events and more. This allows you to passively stay in touch without needing to connect with them. If you end up working together again in the future, you’ll have a sense of what they’ve been up to.
Limits on LinkedIn Following
While notifications are not sent for new followers, LinkedIn does limit how many people you can follow. This is to prevent spammy behavior and bot accounts. Here are the current limits:
- Free LinkedIn members can follow up to 500 people
- LinkedIn Plus members can follow up to 30,000 people
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator accounts have no follow limit
These limits are quite high for genuine users. But if you do hit the maximum, you will need to unfollow some people in order to follow new ones. You can check how many follows you have remaining under the “Manage my network” section of LinkedIn settings.
Preferred Approach to Connecting
While anonymously following people has benefits, sending personalized connection invites is the preferred way to build relationships on LinkedIn. When you send a customized invitation explaining who you are and why you want to connect, the recipient is much more likely to accept your request. Blindly following people without context often leads nowhere. Making personalized connection invites leads to a strong high-quality network. Strategically combine both approaches as appropriate.
Conclusion
LinkedIn does not notify members when someone follows them. You can anonymously follow other users without their knowledge. They will not receive any alerts or notifications about their new follower. This allows you to discreetly follow professionals, companies and influencers you are interested in tracking. Just be aware of LinkedIn’s monthly limits on how many accounts you can follow. While following anonymously has benefits, customized connection invitations tend to be more effective for developing meaningful relationships.
Scenario | Gets Notification? |
---|---|
You follow a recruiter | No |
You follow a company page | No |
You follow an industry thought leader | No |
Someone follows you | No |
In summary, the act of following someone new on LinkedIn does not trigger any notifications to the user being followed. It is completely anonymous. Use this to your advantage to discreetly follow and research people and organizations that matter to your career and business goals.