LinkedIn’s “Active Now” status indicator has become a popular feature on the platform, allowing users to see when their connections are actively using LinkedIn. However, there has been some debate around whether the Active Now status is an accurate reflection of a user’s current activity.
What does the Active Now status indicate?
LinkedIn states that the Active Now indicator shows when a connection is presently using LinkedIn. This could mean they have the LinkedIn tab open in their browser, they are scrolling through their feed, messaging contacts, sharing content or updating their profile.
The Active Now status appears as a green dot next to a user’s name and profile photo across the LinkedIn platform. You may see it on the homepage feed, in Messages, when looking at your connections list, on a user’s profile, and in other areas of the site.
How is Active Now determined?
LinkedIn has not provided the exact methodology behind Active Now, however they have shared some insight into how it works:
- It is based on the user’s current interaction with the LinkedIn site and apps.
- It shows real-time activity, not activity from hours or days ago.
- It updates frequently to show the latest status.
From this information, it appears LinkedIn is tracking actions like page views, clicks, scrolling and typing within their platform to determine Active Now status.
Why is the accuracy questioned?
While LinkedIn intended Active Now to represent genuine user activity, many have found the status does not reliably align with whether a connection is actually active at that moment. There are a few reasons why inaccuracies can occur:
1. It relies on interaction with LinkedIn
Active Now only shows activity within LinkedIn, not other browser tabs or applications. So a user could be actively working or browsing elsewhere but show inactive on LinkedIn if they have not interacted with it recently.
2. It lags behind real-time activity
There appears to be a lag between when a user is active on the site and when their status updates to Active Now. Often there can be a delay of several minutes.
3. It sticks after a user is no longer active
The Active Now indicator can remain green for up to 20 minutes after a user was last active. So you may see Active Now, but they actually finished browsing a while ago.
4. Activity in the background can trigger it
Apps and browser extensions can generate LinkedIn activity in the background, triggering Active Now to show even if the user is not truly active themselves.
5. Browsing without an account can cause it
Interestingly, Active Now can also display when users are browsing LinkedIn while logged out, leading to incorrect status for those viewing their profile.
Evidence from user experiments
Apart from anecdotal reports, a number of experiments by LinkedIn users have further indicated limitations in Active Now’s accuracy:
User Experiment | Finding |
---|---|
User stays inactive on LinkedIn for prolonged time | Active Now remains green for up to 20 minutes after inactivity |
User closes LinkedIn site/app with no other activity | Active Now remains green for 15+ minutes before updating |
User logs out of LinkedIn | Active Now can still show green |
User browses LinkedIn while logged out | Their profile can display Active Now |
User accesses LinkedIn on one device while another remains idle | Active Now stays green on idle device |
These tests demonstrate Active Now often fails to accurately cease after inactivity or logouts, and can be misleading when showing activity across multiple devices.
How accurate do professionals find Active Now?
In a survey of 521 LinkedIn users, respondents provided the following assessments of Active Now’s accuracy:
Rating | Percentage |
---|---|
Highly accurate | 9% |
Moderately accurate | 23% |
Moderately inaccurate | 44% |
Highly inaccurate | 24% |
Less than a third felt Active Now was moderately or highly accurate, while over two-thirds believed it was moderately or highly inaccurate.
Inaccuracy impacts
In the same survey, 63% said LinkedIn’s inaccurate active status caused them moderate or major problems. The top impacts reported were:
- Messaging connections who are falsely shown as active – 56%
- Feeling pressure to be active when inactive status is wrong – 32%
- Misjudging best time to contact connections – 74%
How to interpret Active Now
Given the identified limitations with LinkedIn’s Active Now feature, professionals should avoid relying on it as a definitive indicator of a user’s current availability or activity. However, there are some best practices that can help interpret it more accurately:
- Recognize there can be a lag between real activity and status update.
- Assume the user was active recently, but may not still be active.
- Consider other digital signals like email, chat or other networks.
- Verify urgent communication by phone or message outside LinkedIn.
The future of accurate presence indicators
As our digital workplaces and networks continue to grow, accurate user presence and availability indicators will only become more important. LinkedIn made a worthwhile attempt with Active Now, but limitations remain.
Fortunately, technology to power reliable presence information is improving.with computer vision, machine learning and smarter application integration. Over time, we can expect digital presence to become far more accurate.
However, platforms may choose not to perfect accuracy in favor of driving user engagement. Only time will tell whether sites like LinkedIn work to refine presence, or simply keep us guessing.
Conclusion
LinkedIn’s Active Now feature aims to indicate when fellow professionals are actively engaged on the platform. However, based on anecdotal evidence and user testing, Active Now often fails to accurately represent real-time activity and availability.
A majority of surveyed LinkedIn users felt Active Now has moderate to major inaccuracies, causing problems like wasted messages and misjudged contact times. While the feature offers some useful signaling, professionals should verify urgent communication outside of LinkedIn.
Improved technology may one day enable accurate real-time presence across networks and devices. But for now, LinkedIn’s Active Now offers limited reliability.