LinkedIn’s private mode allows users to browse LinkedIn without alerting their connections that they have viewed content. When private mode is enabled, your profile photo, last name, and headline won’t show up in another member’s “Who’s viewed your profile” list. You also won’t show up as a suggestion to connect with other members. But does this really make your browsing private?
What does LinkedIn’s private mode do?
When you turn on private mode in your LinkedIn account settings, here are the key things that change:
- Your profile photo, name, and headline don’t appear to others in the “Who’s viewed your profile” section
- You don’t show up as a suggested connection to other members
- Your views of other profiles and content are not visible to others
- You can visit public profiles anonymously
So in essence, private mode allows you to lurk on LinkedIn without leaving a digital footprint that you visited someone’s profile or viewed their content. It’s a way to maintain some privacy as you browse the platform.
What doesn’t change with private mode?
While private mode limits the visibility of some of your browsing behavior, it doesn’t make you completely anonymous or untraceable on LinkedIn. Here are some important things to keep in mind:
- Your network can still see your profile and activity. Turning on private mode only prevents your information from showing up for non-connections.
- LinkedIn still logs and tracks your browsing data internally. The company just chooses not to display some of that publicly.
- Paid LinkedIn members can identify who viewed their profile even if they are in private mode. Only free members won’t see private profiles in their viewers list.
- You can still interact with content and accidentally reveal yourself. Liking, commenting, sharing, etc. makes you visible.
- Connections you already have may still be suggested content you view. The algorithm can piece together data.
The key takeaway is that private mode only limits what information is visible to others publicly on LinkedIn. But LinkedIn itself still has the data on your browsing behavior and private mode doesn’t completely hide your activity if you engage with content.
When should you use LinkedIn’s private mode?
Here are some examples of when turning on private browsing settings may be useful:
- Researching competitors or other companies where you don’t want to reveal your interest
- Looking up clients, partners, or vendors without wanting them to know
- Viewing profiles of prospective hires or candidates without alerting them
- Checking out senior leadership at your company or others in your industry
- Seeing who has viewed your profile without having to connect back
Essentially, private mode allows discreet, one-way viewing of profiles and content when you want to browse under the radar. This gives you more control over your visibility and digital footprint.
Limitations of LinkedIn’s private mode
While private mode is useful, it has some notable limitations:
- Only available on desktop, not the mobile app
- Easy to accidentally turn off if you clear cookies or switch browsers
- Visibility limitations don’t apply if you engage with content
- Paying members can still see your profile views
- Doesn’t hide your activity from LinkedIn itself
Additionally, there are some caveats around public profiles vs private mode:
Action | On a Public Profile | In Private Mode |
---|---|---|
Viewing a profile | Visible to profile owner | Not visible |
Connecting with someone | Visible to recipient | Visible to recipient |
Commenting on content | Visible publicly | Visible publicly |
So private mode mainly just prevents your profile from showing up as an anonymous viewer of content. Any explicit engagements are still public.
Expert tips for staying private on LinkedIn
If you really want to keep your LinkedIn activity more private, here are some additional tips beyond just enabling private mode:
- Don’t connect with people you want to discreetly view. Keep them outside your network.
- Be cautious engaging with content that might expose you.
- Use a separate browser or incognito mode along with private browsing.
- Disable your LinkedIn account’s visibility to search engines.
- Don’t add any identifiable info to your public profile like photo or current job.
With these extra precautions, you can reduce the chances of accidental exposure as you browse LinkedIn privately. But it involves tradeoffs in terms of functionality and convenience on the platform.
Other privacy options
In addition to private mode, LinkedIn does offer other privacy settings to customize what’s visible on your account:
- Profile viewing options – Choose who can see your profile views
- Activity broadcasts – Manage if your content interactions are shared
- Profile visibility – Control if you appear in search engine results
- Your Dashboard – Opt out of news feed personalization
Toggling these on or off can further limit what information is publicly accessible beyond just private browsing mode.
Conclusion
LinkedIn’s private mode does provide more discreet browsing and limits your public profile footprint. However, it has distinct limitations in terms of visibility on LinkedIn itself and accidental exposure from engagement. True anonymity is hard to achieve on a platform built around connections and engagement.
If maintaining privacy is a high priority, supplementing private mode with additional precautions can help. But ultimately there are tradeoffs with usability. Each LinkedIn user must evaluate their needs and determine if private mode provides enough enhanced browsing privacy for their comfort level.