I’m closing in on a month since I decided to find relevance in LinkedIn. I have increased my connections to 109, which is much better than my goal of 100 by February 1st. I still have about 64 invitations outstanding, so I will be personally contacting these folks to talk about connecting.
Today’s topic is Account Settings
The account section is how you control much of the user experience on LinkedIn. The following is a list of the items you can control in your account settings:
- Profile Settings
My Profile
My Profile Photo
Public Profile
Manage Recommendations - Email Notifications
Contact Settings
Receiving Emails
Invitation Filtering - Home Page Settings
Questions and Answers - Groups
My Groups - Personal Information
Name & Location
Email Addresses
Change Password - Privacy Settings
Advertising
Connections Browse
Profile Views
Viewing Profile Photos
Notifying My Network
Service Provider Directory - My Network
Using Your Network
For the notification setting I have them set to notify me by email. It’s easier to do this than to remember to check the site. If I ever begin getting overwhelmed by LinkedIn emails, I can always change the settings.
You can also control the frequency in which you receive these notices.
The Privacy Settings allow you to control whether or not people can see your connections. Out of my current 109 connections, only one person has their account configured so that you cannot directly see their contacts under their profile. (If you do a search for someone in your network you can see how that person is connected to you even if the Privacy settings do not allow you to directly see someone’s connections).
Personally I don’t understand why someone would hide their contacts. LinkedIn is all about seeing who your connections are connected to. If you don’t trust your connection enough to show them who you are connected to, why connect with them in the first place.
I am connected to a couple of people who might be considered competitors. These are people who do the same thing I do, but they are quality individuals. I trust that they are not going to take advantage of being able to see my connections, and I afford them the same courtesy. You never know when today’s competitor is tomorrow’s business partner.
Remember to make sure to keep your email address current. I have tried to connect with several people I have met in the past who have switched jobs or email addresses. When I did not get a response I contacted them and learned that they had made a change but had not thought about updating LinkedIn.
Warm Regards,
Sean Nelson
Acuity Benefits Solutions/Atlanta Health & Life
(404) 418-8753
