LinkedIn is a popular professional social networking platform used by millions of people around the world. On LinkedIn, users create profiles to showcase their background, skills, accomplishments, and more. LinkedIn profiles allow professionals to establish their professional brand, connect with other professionals, and discover career opportunities. One helpful LinkedIn feature is the ability to let your connections know when you’ve made updates to your profile. However, some users have trouble locating the option to share profile edits with their network. This article will explain where to find the setting to share LinkedIn profile edits and describe how to enable profile update notifications.
Locating Profile Edit Sharing Settings
LinkedIn has changed where users can find and manage settings related to sharing profile edits over the years as the platform has evolved. Currently, the option to share profile updates is located within the Account preferences section of LinkedIn settings.
To locate the profile edit sharing settings on LinkedIn:
- Click on the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
- Select Settings & Privacy from the dropdown menu.
- Click on the Account preferences link on the left side of the page.
- Under the Sharing profile edits section, toggle the Share profile edits switch to the on position.
The Share profile edits setting is turned off by default, so you must manually enable it if you want connections to receive notifications when you update your profile. If the switch is grayed out, LinkedIn may be controlling this setting temporarily.
Enabling Profile Update Notifications
Once you’ve located the Share profile edits setting within Account preferences and turned it on, your connections will start receiving notifications when you make changes to your LinkedIn profile. Here are some important things to know about sharing profile edit notifications:
- Notifications are only sent when substantial edits are made, not for minor text tweaks.
- Connections will see a notification banner at the top of their LinkedIn feeds with your profile photo, name, and details on the sections you updated.
- Notifications can be sent for updates made to the following profile sections: Intro, About, Experience, Education, Skills, Accomplishments, and Interests.
- You can only toggle notifications on or off for all sections combined, not for individual profile sections.
- Some users may opt out of receiving all notifications from connections, so they won’t see your profile edit notices.
Keep in mind you can make edits privately without notifying your network by temporarily turning off the Share profile edits setting before making changes. After your edits are complete, you can re-enable sharing.
Who Can See Your Profile Edit Notifications?
When you share profile updates, the notifications will be sent to your 1st-degree connections on LinkedIn. This includes:
- Direct connections who you are connected to.
- Connections within your school or university alumni networks if you’ve joined those groups.
- Anyone you’ve imported into your network from address books or email contacts.
2nd and 3rd-degree connections will not receive notifications when you edit your profile. You can view all your current 1st-degree connections by going to your profile and clicking on the Connections link.
Customizing Your Audience
LinkedIn does allow you to customize the audience who sees your shared profile edits beyond just 1st-degree connections. You can narrow or expand the recipients of your profile update notifications as follows:
- Your Connections Only – Only send to direct 1st-degree connections.
- Extended Network – Send to 1st-degree connections plus 2nd and 3rd-degree connections.
- Public – Anyone who views your profile may see a notification about your recent edits.
To adjust these settings, go back to the Account preferences section of your Settings & Privacy page. Under Sharing profile edits, click on the Customize link to change the audience. This allows greater control over who is informed when you make profile changes.
Why Share Profile Edit Notifications?
There are a few potential benefits to letting your LinkedIn connections know when you update your profile:
- Improved Visibility – Notifications highlight your profile changes in connections’ feeds.
- Expanded Reach – Helps your new skills, experiences and other updates appear before more people.
- Engagement – Connections may interact with your new profile content by liking, commenting, and sharing.
- Better Networking – Surfaces your latest professional details and activities to your network.
However, some LinkedIn users prefer keeping their profile edits private and do not want to broadcast changes across their network. There is no right or wrong way – enabling update notifications can expand your visibility, but is not essential.
Potential Downsides
Here are some potential drawbacks to consider before sharing your profile edits:
- Can generate unwanted attention or connections from strangers.
- Every update you make will appear in connections’ feeds, which some may find annoying.
- Connections may view changes before you are ready to fully publish them.
- May come across as bragging about accomplishments or inauthentic self-promotion.
Troubleshooting Profile Edit Notifications
In some cases, you may enable profile edit sharing but your connections are not receiving notifications as expected. Here is some troubleshooting advice:
- Double check that the Share profile edits toggle is switched on in your Account preferences.
- Make sure you are editing substantial profile sections like About or Experience, not just tweaking text.
- Confirm the updates by viewing your profile as others see it.
- Check that notifications are not going to spam by talking to connections.
- Wait 24 hours after editing before troubleshooting – there can be a delay.
- Consider expanding your audience beyond 1st-degree connections only.
- Contact LinkedIn customer support if issue persists.
Common Notification Errors
Here are some common reasons your profile edit notifications may not be working correctly:
- You made only minor text changes that do not trigger notifications.
- Your connections have disabled receiving all notifications from you or everyone.
- A temporary technical issue prevented sharing the notification as expected.
- The notification was marked as spam by recipients’ email providers.
- You changed your notification audience to a limited setting.
Conclusion
Sharing profile edits allows you to easily inform your LinkedIn connections when you make significant updates to your profile. However, this setting must be manually enabled as it is turned off by default. Locate the Share profile edits toggle within the Account preferences section of Settings & Privacy to control notifications. Carefully consider the benefits and drawbacks of broadcasting your profile changes. Troubleshoot issues by checking your settings, profile visibility, intended audience, and spam filters to ensure your profile edit notifications are working as expected.