LinkedIn has become the world’s largest professional network with over 800 million members. As a professional networking site, LinkedIn profiles often contain a wealth of personal and professional information – including your photo, employment history, education, skills, recommendations, and more.
While there are many benefits to having a robust LinkedIn presence, some users wonder if it’s safe to openly share their profile or if they should keep the information private. There are pros and cons to both approaches.
Potential risks of sharing your LinkedIn profile
Some of the potential downsides of having a completely public LinkedIn profile include:
Identity theft
Your LinkedIn profile contains a lot of personal information that could be useful to identity thieves, such as your full name, photo, employment history, birthplace, and more. While LinkedIn has security measures in place, some users prefer keeping their profile private to limit exposure.
Cyberstalking or harassment
Disgruntled co-workers, former business associates, ex-partners or online trolls could potentially use information on your LinkedIn profile to harass or stalk you. This is especially concerning for women and minorities who are more likely to experience online harassment.
Unwanted recruiting
Having a public profile means recruiters can find and contact you any time. While some may appreciate the new opportunities, others find relentless recruiting messages annoying.
Job search difficulties
Some employers may screen candidates based on their LinkedIn profiles. Those who limit public access might appear to be hiding something and could be overlooked.
Loss of privacy
Having an open profile means anyone can see your employment history, education, skills, recommendations, connections, interests, and more. For some, this lack of privacy is concerning.
Potential benefits of sharing your LinkedIn profile
However, there are also advantages to be gained from having a public profile, such as:
Increased discoverability
Making your profile public allows you to be found more readily by recruiters, business contacts, prospective employers, partners, clients, and others who might find your experience valuable. This can lead to new opportunities.
Showcasing your capabilities
Your LinkedIn profile provides a place to demonstrate your knowledge, skills, accomplishments and expertise. Sharing it openly can help you build your professional reputation.
Network expansion
People can only connect with you if they can find you. An open profile allows others to view your connections and reach out to potentially mutually beneficial contacts.
Business development
Companies and business owners can attract new customers and highlight their capabilities through public LinkedIn profiles. It’s a form of free advertising.
Establishing trust
Often people feel more comfortable connecting with others who have open, transparent profiles versus those who seem to “have something to hide.”
Personal branding
Your LinkedIn profile serves as your own personal PR page – use it to control how you are perceived professionally online.
Tips for sharing your profile safely
For those who want the increased exposure from a public profile without sacrificing privacy and security, here are a few tips:
Customize your public profile URL
LinkedIn automatically assigns a long, generic URL to your public profile. Create a custom URL that doesn’t use your real name.
Leave off your birthdate and location
No reason to share this info which could aid identity theft or stalking. You can still share your industry, job titles and employers.
List your skills, not your job duties
For privacy reasons, don’t detail responsibilities and duties under each position. Focus on showcasing relevant skills instead.
Omit contact info
There’s no need to share personal contact details like your phone number or email address. Connect with people directly through LinkedIn messaging.
Turn off your activity broadcasts
This shares when you update your profile or make connections. Turn it off to limit profile views.
Enable email notifications
You’ll be alerted anytime someone views your profile, so you can monitor unusual activity.
Limit old positions
No need to go back more than 10-15 years. Older info could aid identity theft.
Be selective with recommendations
Don’t accept recommendations from people you don’t know well. They could be fake or from compromised accounts.
Avoid politics, religion and controversial opinions
Such opinions could hurt your job search or attract harassment. Keep your profile focused on professional skills and experience.
Review privacy settings
Take time to review and tweak who can see your connections, activities, interests, etc. Limit visibility when possible.
Should my profile be visible to search engines?
LinkedIn gives you control over whether search engines like Google index and display your public profile in results. There are pros and cons to each approach.
Allowing search engine visibility
Pros:
– Increased discoverability for networking and business opportunities
– Allows you to showcase expertise and achievements
– Helps you brand yourself professionally
– Provides free advertising for your business
Cons:
– Means anyone can potentially find your profile through simple searches
– Reduces privacy as you have less control over who can access your info
Blocking search engine visibility
Pros:
– Added privacy protection and reduced risk of identity theft
– Allows you to control who finds your profile, reducing unwanted attention
– Preventsmisuse of your info from anonymous web users
Cons:
– Reduces networking, job search and business development opportunities
– Makes it harder for interested contacts to independently find you and your business
– Limits your ability to build your professional brand through search
The verdict
Ultimately it’s a personal choice based on your comfort level with added visibility versus increased privacy. If opting for public access, take steps to lock down sensitive info and leverage profile settings to maximize control.
Who can see your LinkedIn profile?
Your LinkedIn privacy settings allow you to control precisely who can view your profile and which information is visible. Here is an overview of how visibility works on LinkedIn:
Public profiles
With a public setting, your profile is viewable to anyone on or off LinkedIn, including people who don’t even have LinkedIn accounts. Some profile info may still remain hidden from public view, which we’ll cover next.
Private profiles
Private profiles can only be seen by your 1st-degree connections on LinkedIn. Your name, photo, industry, region and public groups are still visible to 2nd and 3rd degree connections.
Additional profile visibility settings
Within your profile visibility settings, you can toggle individual sections on or off from public view including:
– Photo
– Public profile URL
– Connections
– Country and industry info
– Summary statement
– Work experience
– Education
– Skills
– Recommendations you’ve made for others
– Recommendations you’ve received from others
– Accomplishments and courses
– Interests and groups
– Blog posts and activity
Controlling contact info visibility
Your name, photo and headline are always public. But you can control visibility for contact info like:
– Email addresses
– Websites
– Phone numbers
– Twitter handles
– Birthdays
– Addresses
Managing your connections list
The list of people you are connected to can also either be public or private. This is controlled separately from your main profile visibility settings.
Activity broadcasts
Other options also allow you to toggle LinkedIn activity broadcasts on or off so others are or are not notified when you update your profile, make connections, etc.
Should I display my LinkedIn profile badge?
LinkedIn offers profile badges that allow you to showcase your LinkedIn profile on external websites and blogs. But is displaying your badge publicly a good idea? Here are some pros and cons:
Potential advantages
– Drives visitors from your external content to your LinkedIn profile which can help build connections and demonstrate thought leadership.
– Showcases your professional brand by linking your high-quality content back to your profile.
– Provides easy access for interested contacts to view your credentials and network.
Potential disadvantages
– Badges could enable stalkers or bullies to access your profile and contact info from external sites where your identity may be more obvious.
– Adds complexity for maintaining separation of personal and professional personas if your external content is non-work related.
– Some employers may frown upon promoting your personal brand over the company brand on work-related blogs or sites.
Tips for safe badge use
If displaying your badge, consider these tips:
– Only display on strictly professional domains that align with your industry and expertise.
– Avoid adding a badge on personal blogs or websites unrelated to your career.
– Use wisely if writing anonymously or using a pseudonym on external sites.
– Monitor traffic and connections originating from your badge links.
Who can see my LinkedIn activity and updates?
Beyond just your profile visibility, LinkedIn also allows you to control who can see your activity updates including:
– New connections
– Posts, articles and content you share
– Likes
– Comments
– Groups joined or left
– Education updates
– Job updates
– Projects listed
– Recommendations given
– Skills added
Activity visibility can be customized for different audience levels:
Your connections only
The most private setting – activity visible to direct connections only.
Connections of connections
Increases visibility slightly to 2nd degree connections.
Anyone on LinkedIn
All LinkedIn members can see your activity no matter how they are connected.
Public
Your activity is visible both on and off LinkedIn publicly.
Activity broadcasting is all or nothing. You can’t select visibility per update – your same audience setting applies to your full activity stream.
Is it safe to communicate on LinkedIn?
While networking is critical on LinkedIn, it also introduces some security risks – especially once you move connections off the platform. Some risks to weigh:
Data harvesting
Hackers can leverage connections made through LinkedIn to access company data, trade secrets or personal info through phishing. Only connect with trusted individuals.
Reconnaissance for social engineering
Criminals use LinkedIn profiles to research targets, gathering info later used for fraud or hacking. Be wary of shady connection requests.
Malware distribution
Fake LinkedIn emails with infected attachments or links to malicious sites are common. Don’t open suspicious messages.
Spam and harassment
LinkedIn inboxes often overflow with unsolicited sales pitches, offensive content or even threats. Use the platform’s robust blocking and reporting features.
Losing control of your data
Once you message or share your contact info, others can potentially misuse it without your knowledge. Proceed with caution before taking conversations off platform.
LinkedIn privacy best practices
While there are always risks in the online world, you can take steps to maximize privacy and safety on LinkedIn:
Review security options
LinkedIn’s settings provide visibility control, login alerts, fraudulent content reporting, restricted contact lists and more. Understand how these work.
Customize visibility
Don’t default to fully public. Instead, opt for the most restrictive settings that still meet your goals.
Limit personal details
Share only details needed to demonstrate professional capabilities – not unnecessary personal data.
Be wary of requests
Don’t accept connection invites from unfamiliar people. Also be cautious of random offers, inquiries etc.
Avoid oversharing
Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want an employer, colleague or stranger to see.
Use common sense
Apply the same caution you would in the real world when interacting online. Refrain from sharing sensitive data with strangers.
Guard contact info
Rather than sharing your phone or email on your profile, communicate exclusively through LinkedIn messaging initially.
Conclusion
Maintaining online privacy while still benefiting from LinkedIn requires finding the right balance for your comfort level. However, with the right security precautions and privacy configurations, most professionals can safely maximize LinkedIn’s advantages while minimizing risks.