Are you annoyed by someone's status updates? Tired of getting so many emails? Don't want to share your connections list with your network?
 
These are only a few of the important things you can control from your LinkedIn Settings Panel. I will be sharing five critical settings with you. For more information about settings, check out the Your Account, Your Settings--Your Way chapter in my book.

 

To access your account settings, settings place your cursor over your name on the top toolbar and select Settings (old version top toolbar) or scroll over your picture on the far right of your top toolbar and select Privacy & Settings (new version top toolbar). 

  

Here are the five settings I'm asked about most frequently and find most useful.

 

1.  "I don't want to be bothered with all those group emails"

 

Yes, you have full control over which groups you receive email notifications from and the frequency with which you receive them. Ask yourself If I miss something from this group, would I be mad? I suggest you keep track of a handful of groups, and then turn the others off.

  

How: Settings > Groups, Companies & Applications > Set the frequency of group digest emails

 

2.  "This guy is driving me nuts with his silly status updates"

 

We all have some people in our network who are essentially using their status updates like a Twitter account or they don't understand that on LinkedIn we don't want to be sold to on a daily basis. This setting allows you to say "bye-bye" to their status updates.

  

How: When you view one of their status updates on your home page, move the cursor to the top right of the update and click "Hide."

 

3.  "I don't want to tell my network every time I change my profile this weekend"

 

This is especially helpful if you are working on your profile in a condensed period of time and don't want to report every change immediately. Be sure to turn this back on when you have completed your final change. Having your network see your profile changes is a good thing.

  

How: Settings > Profile > Turn on/off your activity broadcasts

 

4.  "I don't want people to see my connections"

 

The default is that your first-degree connections can see who your other first-degree connections are. Allowing your friends to know who your other friends are has always been an important step in the networking process. It is especially cool how LinkedIn has taken that to a new level.

  

That being said, I do understand certain people may not want this list to be viewable by others. I know plenty of people who would not play the LinkedIn game at all if this control did not exist, so I'm thankful it's available. 

  

Many people would like this setting to be person-by-person and not all-or-nothing. I am sorry to say that option is not yet available on LinkedIn.

  

Check out my article: "Should You Hide Your LinkedIn Connections?" for a more in-depth discussion of this topic.

  

How: Settings > Profile > Select who can see your connections

 

5.  "How do other people get their picture, name, and company name on Who's Viewed Your Profile"

 

The default is that you won't see this detail, but I think most of us who are interested in growing our brands want this detailed information to show up when we appear on the Who's Viewed Your Profile list.

  

How: Settings > Profile > Select what others see when you've viewed their profile 

  

Take a few minutes to make sure your settings are in line with your LinkedIn strategy. It will help you save time and be much more effective on LinkedIn.