The LinkedIn activity feed shows updates from your connections and companies you follow. While it can be useful for staying up-to-date, you may want to turn it off for privacy or to avoid distractions.
What is the LinkedIn Activity Feed?
The LinkedIn activity feed displays recent updates from your connections and companies you follow. It shows things like profile changes, new jobs, shared articles, and published posts. You’ll see the feed on LinkedIn’s homepage when you log in.
The activity feed helps you stay on top of happenings in your professional network. It works similarly to the news feeds on Facebook and Twitter. However, some users find the constant updates distracting or want more control over their privacy.
Why Would You Want to Turn Off the Activity Feed?
Here are some common reasons to turn off or restrict the activity feed:
- It’s distracting when you’re trying to focus. The endless scroll of updates from hundreds of connections can make you lose track of what you originally logged in to do.
- Too many notifications. You may get notified every time someone interacts with your posts or shares an update.
- Privacy concerns. Although you can adjust visibility settings, some users don’t like connections seeing notifications about who they interact with.
- Irrelevant content. If you have a lot of connections, your feed may become cluttered with updates from people you barely know.
Turning off the activity feed helps avoid these issues. You can always check back on a connection’s profile anytime to see if they’ve made changes.
How to Turn Off LinkedIn Activity Feed
You have two main options for turning off LinkedIn’s activity feed:
- Disable it completely
- Adjust notifications
Let’s look at how to do both.
Option 1: Disable the LinkedIn Activity Feed
To fully disable your LinkedIn activity feed:
- Click on your profile avatar in the top right and select Settings & Privacy
- Go to the Communications tab
- Under Activity Broadcasts, uncheck the box next to Share activity about you and content you engage with
- Scroll down and click Save
This stops your activity from appearing in your connections’ feeds. However, they can still visit your profile to see changes.
Option 2: Adjust LinkedIn Activity Notifications
Another option is keeping the feed enabled but adjusting notifications. Here’s how to manage notifications:
- Go to Settings & Privacy > Communications
- Under Notifications, choose notification frequency and delivery options, such as email vs. notifications in your LinkedIn inbox.
- Toggle specific notification types on/off, like profile views, messages, and post reactions.
- Scroll down and click Save.
You can fine-tune notifications this way without fully disabling your activity feed.
Other Ways to Control Your LinkedIn Activity Feed
In addition to turning off your own activity feed, here are a few more ways to manage what you see:
- Unfollow people and brands you don’t want to see updates from.
- Mute someone’s shares without unfollowing them.
- Block users whose activity you don’t want to interact with at all.
- Use LinkedIn’s Feed Filter to focus on only certain post types, like articles.
You have lots of control over the content in your activity feed. Prune your feed of unwanted updates and noisy connections. Use feed preferences and notifications to highlight the content you care about.
The Pros and Cons of Turning Off LinkedIn Activity Feed
Before disabling your LinkedIn activity altogether, consider the potential downsides:
Pros
- Avoid distractions and information overload
- Increased privacy and fewer public notifications
- Less noise, more relevant content
- Cleaner homepage view
Cons
- Miss major updates from your network
- Harder to discover new content and trends
- May look inactive to some connections
- Less passive exposure to your brand and shares
Weigh the pros and cons based on your personal preferences and networking goals.
Conclusion
LinkedIn’s activity feed keeps you updated but can also feel overwhelming. Turn off your activity broadcasts in Settings & Privacy to disable your feed entirely. To pick and choose updates, use notification settings or unfollow, mute, and block connections.
Restricting your feed gives you more control over your LinkedIn experience. But you may miss out on relevant happenings. Experiment to find your ideal balance between staying updated and maintaining productivity.
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Related Questions
How do I permanently delete my LinkedIn account?
To permanently delete your LinkedIn account:
- Go to your LinkedIn Account Settings
- Under “Account management,” select “Closing your LinkedIn account”
- Follow the prompts to confirm account closure
- Click “Close account”
LinkedIn will permanently delete your profile and all data associated with your account. This action is irreversible.
Does deactivating LinkedIn delete your account?
No, deactivating your LinkedIn account does not delete it. Deactivation temporarily hides your profile and prevents you from accessing LinkedIn. However, your data remains in LinkedIn’s system and your profile can be reactivated.
To completely erase your LinkedIn presence, you must permanently delete your account, not just deactivate it. Deletion is irrecoverable.
How do I download my LinkedIn data before deleting my account?
Before permanently deleting your LinkedIn account, you can download a copy of your account data:
- Go to your LinkedIn Account Settings
- Select “Getting a copy of your LinkedIn data”
- Enter your password and select the data you want to download
- Click “Request archive”
- LinkedIn will email you a download link when ready
This lets you preserve important information, connections, messages, and other data from your LinkedIn account.