Turning off your connection visibility on LinkedIn is a setting that allows you to hide the identities of your connections from others. This can be useful if you want to protect your network’s privacy or keep your contacts out of sight from recruiters and sales professionals. However, it also means losing out on some of the key benefits of having a public network on LinkedIn. Here are the main pros and cons to weigh when deciding whether to turn off your connection visibility.
Pros of Turning Off Connection Visibility
Increased Privacy for Your Connections
One of the biggest reasons people turn off connection visibility is to protect their network’s privacy. When your connections are visible to others, it exposes their identities and professional details without their consent. They may not want prospective recruiters, business contacts, or anyone else probing their LinkedIn presence. By hiding your connections, you respect their privacy and control what parts of their profile are publicly accessible.
Avoids Unwanted Connection Requests
Public connections allow anyone to see who you are linked to on LinkedIn. This can lead to getting connection requests from people you don’t know, such as aggressive recruiters or salespeople fishing for leads. They may send generic invites after glancing at your connections. Keeping your network hidden lets you avoid these annoying requests.
Presents a More Exclusive Profile
Some people prefer to keep their cards close to their chest on social media. Turning off connection visibility can give your profile a more exclusive vibe by avoiding the perception that you accept just anyone. It reinforces that gaining access to your network and connections is a privilege that must be earned. This air of exclusivity can be useful in certain professional contexts.
Reduces Security Risks
There are some risks associated with publicly displaying your entire professional network. Sophisticated phishing scammers could potentially use those connections against you in social engineering attacks. Keeping it private reduces the attack surface for hackers or bad actors targeting you or your connections’ identities and data. It also prevents anyone from quickly mapping out all your professional relationships and interests.
Cons of Turning Off Connection Visibility
Limits “Social Proof” of Your Status
The size and quality of your professional network acts as a form of social proof or social capital on LinkedIn. Displaying your connections and their identities shows you have relationships with influential people and thought leaders. High-profile connections can improve your personal brand and credibility. Hiding them takes away those reputation benefits.
Reduces Networking and Discovery Opportunities
Public connections enable “network browsing” whereby you can discover new professional contacts through your existing ones. People may come across and connect with you after viewing your connections. Turning off this visibility cuts off these peripheral networking and relationship-building opportunities with colleagues of colleagues. You limit the ability to expand your network organically.
Removes Context from Your Profile
Your list of connections provides valuable context about your professional background for those viewing your profile. They can identify companies, industries, schools, and other areas you have ties to based on the people you are connected with. It shows parts of your career path and areas of expertise. Hiding all of this makes your profile appear isolated and lacking in context.
Creates a One-Sided Experience
LinkedIn is built on mutual connection visibility. Turning it off only for yourself creates a lopsided experience where you can see the identities of your connections, but they cannot see you in return. This asymmetry goes against the norms of professional networking and means you benefit without reciprocating the same access.
Misses Out on LinkedIn Search Visibility
Part of LinkedIn’s search algorithms for profiles includes weighting connections and their attributes. The quantity and quality of your connections impacts how visible your profile is in various searches. Losing this connectivity factor means possibly ranking lower in results for industry terms, companies, job titles, and other keywords.
Tips for Managing Visibility Settings
If you want to balance the pros and cons of both options, here are some best practices for managing your connection visibility settings:
Be Selective About Hiding Connections
Instead of hiding all your connections, be selective about which ones truly need increased privacy. You can hide connections on a case-by-case basis. Focus first on any contacts who could be put at risk by unwarranted publicity.
Keep Your Closer Network Visible
Leave visibility turned on for your closest professional contacts, colleagues, and advocates. These are the people that will best reinforce your reputation and provide valuable context about your background.
Customize Settings For Different Audiences
LinkedIn allows you to customize your profile visibility by audience. For example, you can show all connections to your direct network but hide them from the public. Take advantage of these options to limit exposure while still being transparent with people you already know well.
Inform Connections Before Hiding Them
To avoid misunderstandings, let a connection know if you plan to remove their visibility on your profile. Explain it is simply for privacy reasons rather than anything personal. Offer to reciprocally hide your visibility on their profile as well.
Use Other Context Cues
Add context back to your profile through your position titles, recommendations, accomplishments, volunteer work, and other details. These can convey professional relevance without needing to rely on visible connections.
Should You Ultimately Hide Your Connections?
Here are some final recommendations on whether hiding your LinkedIn connections is right for you:
Hide Them If:
– You have serious privacy concerns around displaying connections
– Your goal is managing a tightly controlled professional brand
– An exclusive profile aligns with your industry culture
– You want to reduce unsolicited outreach and connection requests
Keep Them Visible If:
– Networking and relationships are key priorities for you
– You want to benefit from “social proof” and reputation
– Contextual insights into your background are valuable
– You regularly connect with colleagues of colleagues
– You want to maximize LinkedIn search visibility
In summary, assess your own priorities, career stage, industry norms, and networking approach. Weigh the trade-offs of visibility versus privacy for your specific circumstances and connections. Utilize LinkedIn’s customizable settings to find the right balance. Monitor the impact over time and continue optimizing for the right visibility strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is turning off connection visibility bad for your LinkedIn presence?
Hiding your connections is not necessarily bad, but does come with trade-offs. The main downsides are losing out on reputation benefits, network discovery, and profile context. However, increased privacy and reduced unwanted outreach may be worth it depending on your goals.
What happens when you turn off LinkedIn connection visibility?
Turning it off makes all your connections anonymous to anyone viewing your profile. Names and photos are hidden. However, you can still see the identities of your own connections when logged in.
Can you see who views your LinkedIn profile if connections are hidden?
Yes, hiding your connections does not impact LinkedIn’s view tracking. You can still see the anonymous aggregate data on profile views and visitors under your Settings & Privacy panel.
Is it better to have 500 or 50 LinkedIn connections?
In most cases, having 500+ connections is better to demonstrate an extensive professional network. However, it also depends on the quality and relevance of those connections for conveying thought leadership and impact in your industry.
Should I connect with people I don’t know on LinkedIn?
Be selective when connecting with strangers. It is generally better to connect with 2nd and 3rd degree connections rather than complete strangers. But if the person is in your industry and you may mutually benefit from connecting, it can be worthwhile as long as it does not come across as spammy.
Conclusion
Managing your connection visibility on LinkedIn involves carefully weighing risks vs. rewards. Obscuring your contacts does increase privacy while cutting down on unsolicited communication. However, it also sacrifices opportunities to expand your network and build credibility. Take advantage of LinkedIn’s selective settings to find the right balance for your specific needs. Focus on keeping close, relevant connections visible while hiding contacts wanting increased privacy. With the right strategy, you can maintain the contextual benefits of an open profile while also keeping sensitive information hidden from those who should not see it.