As a professional social media platform, LinkedIn allows users to share updates, articles, media, and other content with their connections and followers. One common question is whether LinkedIn posts can be made private, restricting them to certain connections rather than being publicly visible.
What does “private” mean on LinkedIn?
On most social networks like Facebook and Instagram, users can choose to make a post “private” so that it is only visible to certain friends or followers. However, LinkedIn does not have this type of granular privacy control for regular LinkedIn posts.
The only way to make a standard LinkedIn post private is to change your default sharing settings. Under account settings, you can change who can see your future posts by default:
- Public – Anyone on or off LinkedIn
- Connections only
- Connections of connections
So any new posts will be restricted to that audience, but you cannot make a specific, individual post private. All your posts will follow that account-wide setting.
Other “private” options on LinkedIn
While regular posts cannot be made private, LinkedIn does have some features and content types that are designed for more selective sharing:
- Direct messages – You can privately message any of your 1st-degree connections.
- Invited posts – You can make a post visible only to the specific connections you invite to view it.
- Groups – When you post in a private LinkedIn group, it is only visible to members of that group.
- Company pages – Company admins can post private updates only visible to employees.
So if you want to share something more privately, those options let you target specific individuals or groups. But regular profile posts are either visible according to your account setting or restricted to certain groups/apps if you choose while posting.
Why you cannot make a regular LinkedIn post private
LinkedIn is designed for professional networking and engagement, so the platform makes it difficult to hide your main profile activity and posts.
Here are some reasons why LinkedIn does not allow making regular posts private:
- It goes against the open, transparent culture of professional networking.
- Profile posts showcase your expertise and personality.
- Connections want insight into your work and interests.
- Private posts would allow spreading misinformation or inappropriate content.
- Posts drive engagement which is key to LinkedIn’s business model.
Essentially, LinkedIn is focused on public sharing and engagement between professionals. So the platform is designed to make your core posts and activity visible to your network.
How to “restrict” your LinkedIn posts
While you cannot make specific LinkedIn posts private, you do have some options to narrow down your audience beyond fully public:
- Adjust default post visibility – Change it to “Connections only” or “Connections of connections” under settings.
- Limit visibility while posting – Choose a specific group or app to share into instead of posting to your whole network.
- Use anonymous mode – Posts made in anonymous mode are attributed to “Anonymous” without your name or photo.
- Remove connections – Prune connections to restrict your network to trusted contacts.
- Block specific connections – Prevents certain connections from interacting with your profile or posts.
While not full “private” mode, these controls let you limit the visibility and distribution of your LinkedIn posts to thousands of unknown professionals.
Should LinkedIn allow making posts private?
Whether LinkedIn should implement more granular post privacy controls is controversial. Here are some perspectives on both sides of the debate:
Arguments For Private Posts | Arguments Against Private Posts |
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As you can see, there are good-faith arguments on both sides of whether LinkedIn should add more privacy controls or maintain its commitment to open sharing and professional transparency.
Conclusion
To wrap up, standard LinkedIn posts cannot be made private to specific connections. The only way to restrict a regular profile post is to change your default post visibility under account settings. While you cannot make a post fully private, you can limit visibility in certain ways like adjusting your default audience, posting anonymously, or blocking connections.
LinkedIn restricts post privacy because open sharing and engagement aligns with its culture and business model. However, some users argue for more granular controls. Ultimately, limiting your connections and adjusting visibility settings are the best ways to restrict your LinkedIn posts currently.