Recently LinkedIn made significant changes to the look and feel of the account settings that are available to you, the user. The result is a much easier way to customize your LinkedIn experience. I recommend you spend some time reviewing these to make sure that the default settings match your approach and strategy. 

 

You can access your account settings by going to the top of the toolbar where your name appears, placing your cursor over your name, and selecting "Settings."  

 

Today's help is not going to be a complete review of all the settings available. That would take too much time and be awfully boring to boot. But instead I am going to address what I think are the most important settings. This short list is based not only on my experience but the most popular questions I get at my classes and through my emails each week.

 

The Strategy Behind The Five Most Critical LinkedIn Account Settings

 

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

 

Yes, you have full control over which groups you receive email notifications from and the frequency with which you receive them. My recommendation is to turn off the notifications for the groups that are not of highest importance to you. The question you should ask yourself is: If I miss something from this group, would I be mad? I would suggest keeping track of a handful of groups, and then turn the others off.

 

How: (Settings/Email Preferences/Set the frequency of group digest emails)

 

2.  The "This guy is driving me nuts with his silly Status Updates" setting

 

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, where the word "Hide" will appear. Just click this.)

 

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

 

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. So be sure you leave this on as your default setting.

 

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

 

The default on LinkedIn is that your first-degree connections can see who your other first-degree connections are. hidden faces photoAllowing 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 and professions may not want this list to be viewable by others. So in those cases I am thankful this control exists. I know plenty of people who would not play the LinkedIn game at all if this control did not exist. 

 

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.

 

How: (Settings/Profile/Select who can see your connections)

 

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

 

The default is that you won't see this detail, but I would think most of us who are into growing our brands in the marketplace would 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)