Discussion Forum

Hi Julie, I gave myself linkedin as my class homework. I had the idea to add all of my former and current clients to my network. Not surprisingly, most of them are not on linkedin, but I'm still adding whoever I can. It's nice to reconnect with people I've helped over the years. Then, I will send out a request for recommendations. Then, I will respond to at least 1 related question per week to showcase my expertise. I've also joined some groups. I improved my profile (I think so anyway) and added a link to request my special report. I have gotten some requests and even got a client from it.

I get asked this question quite often, so I felt it worth answering here on the forum.

"Really enjoyed your class last week. I have completed the general information necessary to format my profile. I have asked 5 trusted colleagues/clients to recommend me, however some are calling with the following question: Q: If a company or person joins my network and recommends me, does everyone have access to their email and information?"

Your information is as private as you choose. Let's go over some of the areas where you tell LinkedIN what to reveal and what to keep private (note that I will copy this content from the LinkedIN website):

This from: http://learn.linkedin.com/profiles/#privacy
What type of messages will you accept?
Choose Introductions and InMail if you’re open to receiving most kinds of relevant opportunities. Only accepting Introductions means that when you are contacted about an opportunity, it will have to be approved and forwarded to you by a trusted connection.

Opportunity Preferences
Choose the kinds of opportunities you would like to be contacted by other members of LinkedIn about. For example, if you are not open to leaving your job or doing free-lance, you might uncheck Career opportunities, Consulting ventures, and Expertise requests, but leave the rest so you can get back in touch, find out about business deals, and be contacted by people who want to work with/for you.

Advice to users considering contacting you
Include comments on your availability, types of projects or opportunities that interest you, and what information you’d like see included in a request. To avoid unwanted contacts, do not include contact information, since your response will be visible to your entire network. Details of what fellow LinkedIn users and non-LinkedIn users can see along with how you can control this is found in the Privacy Settings

This from http://learn.linkedin.com/settings/

Connections Browse
Do you want your direct contacts to be able to see who else you are connected to? You can choose to show or hide your connections, but users will always be able to see any shared connections.
Profile Views

What do you want other LinkedIn users to know when you view their profiles? Control what details show up in the “Who’s Viewed My Profile” module on their LinkedIn homepage.
Profile and Status Updates

Do you want to let your connections know when you update your status, make a significant change to your profile, or recommend a person or service?

Advertising

Control whether you receive targeted advertising (based on non-personal information) on selected partner sites.
Viewing Profile Photos

Only want to see certain profile photos as you browse LinkedIn?
Service Provider Directory

Are you a service provider that has received a recommendation, but don’t want to appear in the Service Provider Directory?

I hope this helps to illustrate that being a member of LinkedIN can be as public or as private as you the user choose. I don't know of any other services that provide this level of privacy, which is why I recommend it so much to professional users.

Cheers,

Rebekah