LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform, with over 810 million members globally. As a social media site focused on career networking and making professional connections, LinkedIn profiles showcase a member’s work history, skills, education, accomplishments, and more. With so much personal and professional information available on LinkedIn profiles, many users wonder how visible their contact information is to others.
What contact info can you show on your LinkedIn profile?
LinkedIn allows members to share various types of contact information on their profiles. This includes:
- Email address
- Phone number
- Twitter handle
- Websites
- Instant messaging usernames
- Mailing address
However, members can choose whether they want each type of contact information to be visible on their profile or not. You control the visibility settings for each item under the “Contact Info” section when editing your profile.
Email address visibility settings
Your email address is one of the main ways people can contact you on LinkedIn. The visibility options for your email are:
- Visible to everyone: Any LinkedIn member can see your email address on your profile.
- Visible to only your connections: Only members who are directly connected to you can see your email.
- Visible to only you: Your email is completely hidden from all members.
The default setting is visible to everyone. However, many members choose to only share their email with their direct connections to limit spam and unwanted messages.
Phone number visibility settings
You have the same three visibility options for your phone number as your email address:
- Visible to everyone: Any LinkedIn member can see your phone number on your profile.
- Visible to only your connections: Only members who are directly connected to you can see your phone number.
- Visible to only you: Your phone number is completely hidden from all members.
Again, the default is visible to everyone. But many members hide their number entirely or only share it with connections to limit unsolicited calls.
Other contact info visibility
For other contact methods like social media, websites, and mailing address, you only have two options:
- Visible to everyone: Can be seen by all LinkedIn members.
- Visible to only you: Completely hidden from other members.
There is no option to show these only to your connections. This is likely because channels like websites and social media are considered more public than direct contact methods like email and phone.
How profile visibility settings impact contact info
In addition to the individual contact visibility settings, your overall profile visibility can also determine if people can see your contact information. There are three main profile visibility options:
- Public: Your profile is viewable by anyone on or off LinkedIn.
- Visible only to connections: Only 1st-degree connections can view your full profile.
- Private: You control who can see your profile.
If your profile visibility is set to private or connections only, members who are not connections will not be able to see any of your contact info – even if your individual contact settings are set to public.
Public profiles have no restrictions, so your contact info visibility will fully depend on the individual settings for each item.
How LinkedIn relationship impacts contact info visibility
The level of connection you have with another member also affects the contact information they can access. There are three main relationship types on LinkedIn:
- 1st-degree connections: You are directly connected to the member.
- 2nd and 3rd-degree connections: You are connected through shared connections.
- No connections: You have no connections with the member.
Here is how your profile relationship impacts contact info visibility for members:
| Contact Info Visibility Setting | 1st Degree Connections | 2nd & 3rd Degree Connections | No Connections |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visible to everyone | Visible | Visible | Visible |
| Visible to connections only | Visible | Not visible | Not visible |
| Visible to only you | Not visible | Not visible | Not visible |
As you can see, 1st-degree connections have access to the most contact information based on relationship status alone. Meanwhile, members with no connections can only see what you set to public.
Finding someone’s contact info on LinkedIn
Now that you know the factors that control contact info visibility, here is how you can try to find and view someone’s contact details on LinkedIn:
- Search for their profile using name, company, school, etc.
- If you see the full profile, check for an email, phone, or other info in the contact section.
- If you only see a limited preview, try connecting with the member first.
- Once connected, view their full profile again to see if more contact ways are now visible.
- If you still can’t see their info, they have likely set it to be hidden, even from connections.
- You can try messaging the member directly on LinkedIn to ask them to share contact details.
Changing your contact info visibility settings
Ready to adjust who can see your email, phone, and other contact information on your LinkedIn profile? Here is how to update the visibility settings:
- Go to your profile and click “Edit public profile & URL”
- Scroll down and click “Contact info”
- For each item, open the dropdown menu and select a visibility option
- Click “Save” to apply your new contact info settings
Remember, you can choose different visibility settings for each contact method. Or keep them all consistent by selecting the same level of visibility. It depends on your comfort level and how widely you want your contact info shared.
Conclusion
On LinkedIn, you have control over how visible your contact information is to other members. The options range from totally public to completely private, with the ability to selectively show some details just to your connections.
How accessible your contact info is also depends on your overall profile visibility, plus the nature of the relationship you have with each viewer. First-degree connections are granted the widest access, while unconnected members have the most restrictions.
In summary, LinkedIn gives you flexibility but also enables privacy when it comes to displaying your personal contact ways. Take advantage of the options to find the right balance for your professional profile.
