How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

written by Houston Golden
Founder & CEO, BAMF Media
July 23rd, 2020
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LinkedIn is the most bustling social media network for professionals. It allows you to network and connect with individuals in your industry and improve your career opportunities.

However, with concerns of privacy booming, people are starting to look into better security of their data and online activity.

In general, LinkedIn is a pretty open platform. When you have a profile and if you pay for LinkedIn Premium you are able to see every person who has checked your profile.

Yet, it’s easy to see why some people would prefer the privacy of browsing LinkedIn without each and every action they take being showcased in the public space.

LinkedIn Private Mode allows you to hide and control the information about your activity.

What are the Benefits of Using LinkedIn Private Mode?

Introduced as early as 2015, Private Mode is a feature of LinkedIn that allows you to control the amount of information people see when you are checking out their profile on the platform.

Usually, when you visit the profile of a person on LinkedIn they would be able to see it, alongside with information about the time at which you have visited their profile page.

When you activate private mode your searches become invisible.

This allows you to keep your search visits discreet and the person won’t be notified that YOU in particular have visited their profile.

When to use Private Mode?

LinkedIn Private Mode is perfect for:

  • HR Personnel looking for new employees and recruits for their company
  • Marketing Researcher exploring profiles for ideal customer persona buildouts
  • B2B Salesman building a list of potential leads
  • Competitor Research

By having control over the flow of information that is given to other parties you are able to do more offstage and personalized searches without worrying about people being able to see your profile.

How to use LinkedIn Private Mode on Desktop?

To activate the private mode and keep your profile hidden when you do searches on LinkedIn you can use the following steps.

How to activate LinkedIn Private Mode (and hide your profile)

Total Time: 5 minutes

Step 1: Go to LinkedIn.com and log in to your profile.

The first step is to visit the homepage of the platform from your profile.

linkedin private mode, How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

Step 2: Click your profile icon in the top navigation bar

After that, click on your profile photo to open up the drop down menu.
linkedin private mode, How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

Step 3: Click on “Settings & Privacy”

From the drop-down menu that has just appeared, you are able to select new settings and options. Enter the “Settings & Privacy” option. linkedin private mode, How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

Step 4: Scroll down to the “How Others See your LinkedIn Activity” Section

Once you are in the settings, scroll down to the section that is titled “How Others See your LinkedIn Activity” section.
linkedin private mode, How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

Step 5: Change the Settings you want to Control

Change the settings of LinkedIn to suit your liking. linkedin private mode, How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

LinkedIn Private Mode Settings

In general, LinkedIn offers you six different options that let you control your exploration on your platform.

Profile Viewing Options

linkedin private mode, How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

This option allows you to choose whether or not you are visible to others when browsing their profiles.

It provides you with three different appearance options.

  • Your Name and Headline
  • [Job] at [Company]
  • Anonymous LinkedIn Member

If you want to be completely anonymous, you should select the third option.

Story Viewing Options

linkedin private mode, How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

Story viewing options show whether or not and how your profile will be shown to someone when you are viewing their stories. It has the same three options as the previous section.

Manage Active Status

linkedin private mode, How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

The active status setting allows you to keep your activity hidden from others. Usually, your online status will be shown in the chat as a green circle if you are online.

If you don’t want people to know when you are online, you should use this setting.

It has three main privacy settings.

  • Your Connections Only
  • All LinkedIn Members
  • No One

The first option is active by default. For privacy, you should use the third option to hide your online activity on LinkedIn from everyone.

Share Job and Profile Changes

linkedin private mode, How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

Titled as “Share Job changes, education changes, and work anniversaries from profile” this section allows you to hide the notifications of work-related changes from being shared to others in your LinkedIn network.

It has a simple “Yes” and “No” slider.

You should turn it to “No” if you don’t want people to notify you every time you change your profile.

Notify when you are in the News

linkedin private mode, How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

When a publication shares information about you, your name can appear in people’s feeds.

If you want people to be able to be linked to your profile when they share different news, you should keep this option open.

However, if you want to go completely private with your professional and public activity, you should opt-out of that option.

To do so, click on this menu section and turn the slider to the “No” option.

This will keep you “in the news” notifications from being shared with others on the platform and in your close connections circles.

Mentions or Tags by Others

linkedin private mode, How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

LinkedIn also allows you to see and control whether or not others can mention or tag you in posts.

To keep your activity completely hidden it might be best to turn this option off and not allow others to tag you in posts as well.

To do so, simply click the “Yes” and “No” slider to the “No” option.

That way, people won’t be able to tag your profile in their posts.

Activating your Private Mode Settings in the LinkedIn Mobile App (Android, iOS)

Now, if you are a mobile-first user, you can still access most of the settings mentioned above.

However, to get to these settings is arguably a bit more tricky.

The LinkedIn Mobile app doesn’t have a proper categorization of your privacy settings, but still gives you control over what to hide and what to make visible.

Here’s how to access your Private Mode settings in a few easy steps.

Step 1: Open the LinkedIn Mobile App

linkedin private mode, How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

Step 2: Click on your Profile Picture

linkedin private mode, How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

Step 3: Click the “Settings” Button

linkedin private mode, How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

Step 4: Click on the “Privacy” Button

linkedin private mode, How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

Step 5: Select the Privacy Option you are Interested in Changing

linkedin private mode, How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

This will get you to the private mode settings in the LinkedIn mobile app as a whole.

LinkedIn Privacy Settings on Mobile

linkedin private mode, How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

The settings on mobile have pretty much the same functionality, but are not arranged as neatly as they are on the desktop version of the website.

linkedin private mode, How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

Here’s what portions of your profile visibility to others you can control on mobile.

  • Profile Viewing Options – Allows you to enter private mode on the app
  • Story Viewing Options – Controls whether your profile is hidden when viewing other people’s stories
  • Manage Active Status – Changes whether or not and to whom you appear online when you are active in the app
  • Notifying Connections When You’re In the News

There are also a couple of other privacy settings found in the menu that allow you to change different aspects of your LinkedIn experience.

linkedin private mode, How to Use LinkedIn Private Mode?

And control the information you have on the app, the way it’s shared with others, with whom it’s shared and how it’s shared as a whole.

Is it better to use LinkedIn in Private Mode?

As mentioned, there are a couple of use cases where you might want to explore the app in private mode.

However, for the most part, allowing your visibility to be active can result in more traction related to your profile.

Imagine if Bill Gates sees a notification that YOU have visited his profile and out of boredom or curiosity he clicks on it.

Now, while this scenario is highly unlikely (he probably has a team running his profile), it can happen with other decision-makers and profile you visit.

And you never know when your luck might hit.

However, having control over the information that is shared with others, with whom it’s shared, and how it’s shared is certainly a HUGE benefit of using LinkedIn and the platform.

Are you interested in learning more about LinkedIn? Share your biggest challenges in the comments section and I’ll do my best to address them. (I have a whole book on LinkedIn)

About the Author

The name's Houston Golden. I'm the Founder & CEO of BAMF — a company I've grown from $0 (yes, really) to well over $5M+ in revenue over a span of 5 years.

How did I do it? Well, it's quite simple, really. I've helped hundreds of business owners and executives get major traction (because when they win, we win), I tell all on this blog.

Growth hacking is a state of mind. Follow along as I explore and expose the unknown growth strategies and tactics that will change the way you think about marketing.
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