LinkedIn: Do you know who is Viewing Your Profile?

Posted on 20. Mar, 2009 by nate in News

The following is taking from LinkedIn’s site, but many people don’t know and it’s quite hard to find:

Who Has Viewed My Profile

What is the ‘Who has viewed my profile’ module?

This is a list of the people who’ve recently viewed your profile. Many times instead of seeing exactly who viewed your profile, you’ll see anonymous profile characteristics such as industry and title. As a profile owner it is understandable that you would want to see exactly who has viewed your profile. However, as a profile viewer you may want your privacy protected. To respect your need for privacy, you can control what is shown to other LinkedIn users whose profile you have viewed by taking the following steps:

1. Click on ‘Accounts & Settings’ link found in upper right area of home page.
2. Click on ‘Profile Views’.
3. Select one of the following:

1. Show my name and headline.
2. Only show users my anonymous profile characteristics (default setting).
3. Don’t show users that I’ve viewed their profile.

Sometimes an anonymous viewer will show only as a position and company name while others display with the viewer’s job function and the industry and location they are in. This is because we may have to modify the verbiage to maintain the anonymity requested by the viewer (e.g., we don’t want to display that the viewer was a ‘Vice President at company XYZ’ if that company only has 1 or 2 Vice Presidents). Clicking on viewer names or descriptions will take you to a People Search results page showing all members that meet that specific criterion.

You may notice variations in the time frames. One day it might say ‘you have been viewed 10 times in 15 days’ and then another it switches to ‘you have been viewed 7 times in 8 days’. This is because the timeframe changes dynamically as people view your profile. The module tries to get a minimum of 5 views over any timeframe and so based on profile view activity it will change. Members may not see the module if no one has viewed their profile.

A subscription upgrade from a free account might allow you to receive a greater number of results for ‘Who’s Viewed My Profile’ (if there are additional viewers). However, you will not receive more in-depth information about the viewers if they have chosen to hide their identity in their privacy settings.

I hope you enjoyed this tip. Be sure to invite me as a connection at:

www.linkedin.com/in/nathankievman

22 Responses to “LinkedIn: Do you know who is Viewing Your Profile?”

  1. Dick Dassow

    08. Apr, 2009

    Where is “WHo has viewed my profile?”

  2. Maryanne Ross

    10. Apr, 2009

    Very helpful! Thanks!

  3. Brian Rosenfelt, Voyant Technology

    14. Apr, 2009

    I think a lot of people underestimate the role of security and privacy when “posting” on Facebook. This is going to become a major area of focus over the next few years, and certainly the next place identiy thieves and hackers will be putting their attention. I usually try not to be a fear-monger when it comes to new technolog, but for some reason, people really seem to be taking their guard down on Facebook.

  4. Ruth Reaser

    14. Apr, 2009

    This is very valuable information. Thank you for taking the time to get the message out.

  5. Yomi

    13. Dec, 2009

    Thanks, Nathan. The world could do with more people like you who are willing to share useful information.

  6. Rick

    14. Dec, 2009

    How exactly may I access the “‘Who has viewed my profile’ module”? If anyone knows, I would appreciate a follow. thx.

  7. Rick

    14. Dec, 2009

    What is the ‘Who has viewed my profile’ module?

  8. Denise Gee

    14. Dec, 2009

    Thanks for sharing Nathan – off to switch on the privacy button!

  9. nate

    16. Dec, 2009

    Hey Rick, The module is on the customer service page of LinkedIn’s support. If you want more advance strategies on this and other items on LinkedIn, join us for our free webinar at http://www.linkedstrategies.com/webinar-optin.htm.

    Best,
    Nate

  10. Regine Lambrecht

    19. Dec, 2009

    Does anyone know the French term for “Profile views” ? I can’t find it on my French profile page…

  11. Laura

    21. Dec, 2009

    Thanks for posting this helpful article. At first, I too had trouble locating my profile views. For anyone struggling to locate this information here are the instructions LinkedIn gives: The module should be visible on your home page in the form of a hyper link that says something like, “Your profile has been viewed by 10 people in the last 90 days. In the last 7 days, you have appeared in search results 7 times.” For me, this was located on the right side of the page under my inbox. If a similar link is not visible from your home page, click on ‘Jobs’ in the top navigation area to see if the module becomes available on the right side of the ‘Jobs Home’ page.

  12. murali

    24. Dec, 2009

    Thanks for sharing … useful one

  13. Ashok Kumar

    04. Jan, 2010

    Thanks for sharing your information,it is very useful for linkedin user.

  14. Neha Malik

    04. Jan, 2010

    Thanks. Its really helpful.

  15. Kari Rippetoe

    06. Jan, 2010

    Only issue is when I click on a viewer name/description and go to the People Search results page, the results are not accurate. It brings up way more than what actually fit the description. For instance, if the viewer description says “Someone in the Sales function in the Information Technology and Services industry from Charlottesville, Virginia Area”, the results display people who live within 100 miles of Charlottesville (hardly the Charlottesville area) from all industries (instead of just the Information Technology and Services industry). I have to alter the search parameters myself.

  16. nate

    08. Jan, 2010

    Hey Kari,

    The only way to fix this is to pay for a account, then you will see exact names.

    Best,

    Nate

  17. Tom

    11. Jan, 2010

    You’ll only see names of people who have selected to allow you to see their details.

    You can view peoples profiles completely anonymously if you wish. Settings>Privacy>Profile Views> Don’t show users that I’ve viewed their profile

  18. nate

    11. Jan, 2010

    Tom, great insight and helpful.

    Nate

  19. balraj

    30. Jan, 2010

    Very helpful. Thanks

  20. Krix

    15. Feb, 2010

    i m not understanding it ,,,, i want to know tht who has viewed my profile at facebook ,,, so how can i know it on linked

  21. nate

    19. Feb, 2010

    Here is a video link to help explain it further… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGRbO-2qm1k

  22. Alex Fogel

    02. Mar, 2010

    Nate,

    I too have a paid account and it has never allowed me to over-ride the privacy settings of another member. Why would it? If they choose to remain anonymous, I shouldn’t be able to buy an exception to their desires.

    Where the “Who’s Viewed My Profile” section is concerned, a paid account just provides you with a greater number of anonymous viewers than the free account does.

    In my opinion, the greater benefit to this section is the statistic that informs you of how often your profile has come up in search results. This is a measurement that matters, because it allows you to monitor the effectiveness of not only your profile content (summary keywords, etc.), but also how your participation in groups and other activities on LinkedIn can impact your relevance to those who you want to be able to find you.

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