Have you tried to stealthily tweak something on your
LinkedIn profile … like a job title … only to have the update unexpectedly sent to all of your
connections? I hate when that happens!
To keep that from occurring can be a tricky two-step process. I’ll
show you how to ensure such accidental messages don't get sent in a minute, but first let me explain what profile changes
trigger an update to your connections (unless
you take action to prevent them).
Changes that trigger
updates (activity broadcasts)
Adding a new current job position (or tweaking an existing job title)
Adding a new current school (or tweaking the school name or degree)
Adding a new link to a website
Recommending someone
Following a company
Adding a connection
Changes that generate
an update that you CAN'T turn off
Joining a group
Updating your photo
Changes that DON’T
generate an update (so feel free to change them)
Typically changes made within the text box part of a section do not generate an update so feel free to tweak your Summary section, your job duties listed within your Experience section, your interests, text within your Education section text boxes, etc. Your network will not be notified of such changes although they can see them if they visit your profile.
OK, now lets talk about the two-step process to ensure edits to your profile don't show up as accidental updates sent to your connections.
1) Turn off your
activity broadcasts
To access settings, click the triangle next to your name in the
upper right corner of your profile.
Go to Settings (found by clicking the triangle next to your
name in the upper right hand corner of your profile). You will need to re-enter
your password information to access the page.
Find Privacy Controls under your Settings.
Under the Privacy Controls settings, click Turn on/off your activity broadcasts
link and then un-check the box. This action will temporarily prevent LinkedIn from issuing an update when you change
your profile, make recommendations, or follow companies; however, when you re-check
the box, an update(s) may be issued
(unfortunately sometimes hours after you’ve made the change).
2) Because simply turning on your activity broadcasts may generate an update, you may need to manually remove an update sent to your network. Here's how ...
Go to your View Profile page
Scroll through your updates to find the one you want
to remove.
Hover over the update until
the word “Delete” appears in the
upper right hand corner.
Click the Delete link. This will remove it from your
network’s view as well as from the list of your updates on your View Profile page.
To delete an update from your network's activity feed, hover over the update
until "Delete" appears. Click the link to remove the update.
You can also limit who can see your activity broadcasts by
clicking the Select who can see your
activity feed link in Settings. Choose to allow “Only you” when making
changes you don’t want people to see. Change this setting to be more public
afterwards so that it appears that you are active on LinkedIn.
Select "Only you" who can see your activity feed when making modifications to your profile.
If despite your best efforts, an update goes out and people
see and comment about it, try these tips:
Delete the update (as explained above)
Thank the person for noticing the update, but explain you
were just making profile modifications
Recognize social media messaging is fleeting and that your
network has likely already moved on to somebody else’s news and forgotten your
errant update.
What questions or comments do you have about status updates and
what can go wrong when you edit your profile? Share them on Getajobtips.com or on the LinkedIn discussion board that might have brought you to the blog.
Do you fear making
needed changes to your LinkedIn profile?
Ask for help! I specialize in
transforming LinkedIn profiles to attract employers and recruiters. Visit
Services to learn more and reach out to me via the Contact Us tab to get started. Thanks!
Kathy
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