Should you be Hiding on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn profiles and different parts of your profile can be hidden from everyone, if you want. However, hiding may not be the best the thing to do, if your intent is to connect with others.

There are 5 settings on LinkedIn that you could use to be Hiding on LinkedIn.

#1 – If you want to be Hiding on LinkedIn, Hiding your Public Profile – Edit Here –

You can hide all of or specific parts of your public Profile. Your Public Profile is what LinkedIn members, not connected to you, will see.

Should you hide your Public Profile?

Maybe. If you are not interested in connecting with new people or if you don’t use LinkedIn at your current job and don’t want your boss or fellow employees to see it

I prefer to let my Public PRofile to be seen by everyone. This is how I get good connections and meet new people who can help me at my job and community work

# 2 – If you want to be Hiding on LinkedIn, Hide my Activity Broadcasts – Edit here

Often LinkedIn coaches suggest that you hide your LinkedIn Activity broadcasts when you are fine tuning your LinkedIn Profile.

I want to recommend that you do not hide your broadcasts, ever. Broadcasts only show top level work you do. It does not broadcast when you change spelling.

Why show your broadcasts all the time? This is how people get to see what you are doing on  LinkedIn. If you are sharing, connecting and engaging with others in a positive way, let your connections see this activity.

#3 – If you want to be Hiding on LinkedIn, Hiding when you are looking – Edit Here

When you look at someone else’s LinkedIn profile, you can be Seen, be Totally Anonymous or hide behind a Company or Education title. If you chose to hide behind a Company name or go Totally Anonymous, you will not be able to see who has looked at your profile. I like to let people know I have looked at their profile – it can create a new discussion or awareness that I exist and could be a good connection.

#4 – If you want to be Hiding on LinkedIn, Hide your Profile Picture – Edit Here

You can hide your profile picture from people you are not connected with, or who are not connected to your connections.

I like to make my LinkedIn profile picture visible to Everyone, because it helps when meeting in real life. I am easily recognizable.

#5 – If you want to be Hiding on LinkedIn, Hide your LinkedIn Connections – Edit Here

 You can hide your LinkedIn connections from everyone if you want. However, your connections will always be able to see shared connections. I prefer to let my connections see each other so that where relevant and useful, I can introduce them to each other.

In summary :

If you want to be Hiding on LinkedIn, you can hide:

1. Your Public Profile segments
2. Your Activity
3. When you are looking at other profiles
4. Your Profile Picture
5. Your connections

My challenge to you is and always has been – Why would you start using LinkedIn, a professional networking tool, if you want to hide. Hiding is counter-intuitive and significantly minimizes the value of Social Media.

Please dont hide.

If you need help using LinkedIn, or getting your employees to use LinkedIn better – reach out to me and let’s talk – Contact Me