LinkedIn is a professional networking platform that allows you to connect with other professionals in your industry. When you connect with someone on LinkedIn, they become a contact in your network. Your list of LinkedIn contacts is an important part of your professional profile on the platform.
However, you may be wondering – who can actually see your LinkedIn contacts? Is your contact list public for anyone to view? Or is it only visible to certain people?
The visibility settings for your LinkedIn connections are an important consideration when managing your professional profile. In this article, we’ll provide a detailed overview of who can view your LinkedIn contact list and how to control the privacy settings.
Your 1st-Degree Connections
Your 1st-degree connections are professionals who you are directly connected with on LinkedIn. These are people who you have either sent or accepted an invitation to connect.
By default, your 1st-degree connections can see your full list of contacts on LinkedIn. However, you do have the option to limit this visibility if you want more control over who can view your network.
When someone is a 1st-degree connection, they can see all of the following:
- All of your connections and their full profiles
- Pending invitations you’ve sent to connect with other members
- Groups that you are members of
So by default, your network of connections is fully visible to the professionals you are directly connected with on the platform. But again, you can customize this visibility which we’ll discuss more below.
Your 2nd-Degree Connections
Your 2nd-degree connections on LinkedIn are people who are connected to your 1st-degree connections. For example, if John is a 1st-degree connection, anyone connected to John would be your 2nd-degree connection.
By default, your 2nd-degree connections have limited visibility of your contacts list and profile activity. They can only see the following:
- Your name, headline, and profile photo
- Your industry and geographic location
- Any groups that you share membership in
- A limited preview of your contact list (usually around 10 random connections)
Your full contacts list and network activity is not displayed to 2nd-degree connections. LinkedIn restricts access to prevent your contacts from being seen by people you don’t know.
However, there is still an option as the account owner to customize what your 2nd-degree connections can see if you wish to expand it.
Your 3rd-Degree Connections and Beyond
Any connections beyond 2nd-degree (like 3rd, 4th, 5th etc.) have very limited visibility of your profile and contacts list by default. Usually, the only information displayed to them is your name, headline, and industry.
LinkedIn restricts access to these outer layers of your network to maintain privacy. Essentially, complete strangers do not have open access to view your contacts or activity on the platform.
As the account owner, you do have the ability to manually adjust the visibility settings for 3rd-degree connections and beyond. But in most cases, the default restricted access for these outer connections is appropriate for privacy.
LinkedIn Members Who Are Not Connected to You
Unconnected LinkedIn members essentially have no default access to your contacts list or full profile activity. The only information they can see is your name, photo, headline, and industry.
This applies to LinkedIn members who:
- You have no shared connections with
- Are not in any common groups with you
- Do not have an upgraded LinkedIn account to Sales Navigator or Recruiter
Again, as the profile owner you can manually change this visibility. But in most cases, limiting access from unconnected members is recommended.
How to Customize the Visibility of Your Contacts
As we mentioned above, LinkedIn does give you the ability as the account owner to customize exactly who can view your contacts list and profile activity.
Here are the steps to update the privacy settings for your contacts:
- Go to your LinkedIn profile and click “View profile” to access your profile settings
- Click the “Privacy & Settings” option along the top menu
- Select “Privacy” from the left sidebar menu
- Under the “Profile viewing options”, click “Change” to edit settings
- Adjust profile visibility for items like your connections, network activity, groups etc.
- Click “Save Changes” at the bottom to apply your customized privacy settings
Using these steps, you can limit visibility from 2nd-degree connections, 3rd+ degree connections, and unconnected members. You can also hide your contacts from your entire public profile if you wish.
Who Can See Your LinkedIn Contacts Summary
In summary, here is an overview of who can see your LinkedIn contacts based on default visibility settings:
Connection Type | What They Can See |
---|---|
1st-degree connections | Full contacts list and profile activity |
2nd-degree connections | Limited profile and 10 random contacts |
3rd+ degree connections | Only your name, headline and industry |
Unconnected members | Name, headline and industry only |
But you can always take more control over contact list visibility through your account settings. Be thoughtful about who you want to have access to your professional network on LinkedIn.
Other Ways Contacts Can Be Exposed
While the above covers general profile visibility, there are a couple other ways your contacts could get exposure:
Contact Importer Tool
LinkedIn offers a “Contact Importer” tool that allows you to import your email contacts as connections. This could potentially expose your non-LinkedIn connections to someone else using the tool.
Saved Lead List
The LinkedIn Sales Navigator tool allows saved lead lists to be exported. So contacts could be exposed if you are added to someone else’s lead list.
LinkedIn Recommendations
LinkedIn’s automated recommendations could suggest your connections to unconnected members. But it will only display limited profile information.
Can You See Who Views Your Profile?
LinkedIn does not identify who specifically views your profile – it only shows an aggregate number of views over time. You can’t see exactly who looked at your profile unless they choose to reveal themselves.
Some versions of LinkedIn Recruiter and Sales Navigator do allow seeing who viewed your profile. But otherwise, individual profile viewers remain anonymous.
Conclusion
Your LinkedIn contacts and connections are meant to be a professional networking asset. But you do have control over who can see and access your contact network.
The default visibility settings are reasonably limited. But you can further customize profile and contact privacy through your account settings.
Also beware of other areas where contacts may get exposure, like the contact importer tool. Think carefully about how open and public you want your LinkedIn network to be.
With over 530 million users on LinkedIn, a certain level of visibility is expected. But you should still feel empowered to control your professional privacy.
Understanding exactly who can see your LinkedIn contacts enables you to manage your profile appropriately. This allows you to maximize the benefits of networking, while still preserving your professional connections.
At the end of the day, your contacts and network activity are visible by default to your direct 1st-degree connections. But you do have options to limit further visibility beyond that inner circle.
Use LinkedIn’s privacy controls wisely when deciding how open you want to make your professional profile and contacts.
Having strong privacy practices ensures you get the most out of LinkedIn’s networking capabilities, while preventing unwanted exposure at the same time.
Be smart, be selective, and control your professional presence by understanding how your contacts and activity may be visible to the wider LinkedIn community.