It was wonderful to see so many people interested in learning more about LinkedIn at the Intuitionet Networking Group last night. I covered a lot of information in my talk during the program: LinkedIn can feel overwhelming at times. I find if you start with a few simple steps, explore, ask questions . . . it makes the journey much easier.
One of the more important features that we didn’t have a chance to talk about was Account and Settings. These controls set your privacy levels, how you are contacted by your connections, your profile visibility, your network and more.
The first setting is your profile setting. When you open the site it will give you options to start building your bio. Before you start this section, think carefully how you plan to use your LinkedIn site. Are you a Jobseeker, looking for networking connections, or an Entrepreneur? The depth of information you decide to share will change according to your end use. Note: It is in this section, under Professional Headline, that you could add a more detailed description about yourself – you can add up to 120 characters.
After building your profile and uploading a photograph the rest of the settings in the Profile Setting refer to visibility. The choices are typically My Connections, My Network (network setting and group members), and Everyone. Choose the level that you are comfortable with, remember you can always change it at any time.
In the next setting, Email, you will be deciding how you want to be contacted by your connections and if you will allow people outside your connections to send messages to your inbox.
The Home Page settings allow you to choose what you see about your connections. For example, do you want to know when they change their profile information, status, add a connection, answer a question, post a job.
At this point, I don’t think you need to set a RSS Feed. This feature would be set if you expect to have a lot of dialog with your connections and groups.
In Group settings you decide if you would like to receive invitations to join groups and the Personal Information setting refers to your account information – password, email, how you want your name posted, etc.
Privacy settings are next, with questions regarding research participation and do you want to see your connections photographs. I recommend that you set your Connections browse so that your contacts can view your connections, after all, this is a social networking site. The Profile View is asking what you want people to see when you go and look at their site, most people choose, don’t show users that I view their profile.
If you are a new user, you can probably avoid the next three features Service Provider Directory, Partner Advertising, Authorized Applications.
The last setting, Using Your Network, prompts you to check off the ways you will be using LinkedIn and will the post those choices at the bottom of your profile.
That’s it for Account and Settings, not to difficult was it?! If you have any questions as you create your profile feel free to post a comment at this site (bottom of the article – link that reads, No (or number) Comment. Good-luck with LinkedIn.
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