May 31, 2008

Revising Your LinkedIn Profile: Who’s Looking at YOU?

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 8:59 am

I’m on a quest to approach social networking and reputation management in a saner, more organized way. Now I’m checking and revising what I’ve already got out there.

Your LinkedIn Profile: Who’s Looking at YOU?

LinkedIn is an important bridge between the online and offline business communities. Both groups use this tool to connect and share their professional expertise. This cross-cultural nature makes LinkedIn more than a social media resume file and management tool. Because of it’s far-reaching membership, LinkedIn can serve as a research tool that shows whether our professional profile is working for us.

Have you noticed the box on your LinkedIn home page called Profile Views? You’ll find it in the right column under the flash ad — I’ve circled it in the screenshot below. (UPDATE: THIS APPEARS ONLY ON PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTS.)

LinkedIn Profile Views


Profile Views is a statement of and a link to who’s been looking at your profile or looking for someone like you. If you click the link, you’ll see something that looks like this.

LinkedIn Who’s Been Looking


This list is compiled based on the visibility settings of the people who came to look. The options are three and offered this way:

What will be shown to other LinkedIn users when you view their profiles?

  • Show my name and headline
  • Only show my anonymous profile characteristics, such as industry and title
  • Don’t show users that I’ve viewed their profile

[To check or change your settings use the "Change your settings" link below the box.]

Click through on one of those links, and you’ll see the folks in your network who fit the same description as the person who stopped by to check your profile. NOTE: The person who actually came may not be in this list.

Looking Back and Saying Hello

At first it seemed silly to look at list of people who hadn’t looked at me. Then I realized this list was representative of someone who had been a visitor. I got curious about who they were. Now I look back regularly and sometimes I reach out to meet them as well.

  • I check the list of “who’s been looking” for a possible match in our goals or a connection to people close to me. For example, right now I’m working on a training program called “Models and Masterminds.” So, “Someone in the Executive Leadership function in the Internet industry from Savannah, Georgia Area” might have similar goals to my own. I also might find a connection to my colleague Chris Cree.
  • I click through on the match I find and concentrate on the Level 2 connections. I read down the list for many things.
    • The words that people use to name their jobs
    • The companies they work for currently
    • The companies they’ve worked for in the past
    • Their current location
    • The number of recommendations and connections they have

    I only click through on those that look like a possible fit.

  • When I click through on a possible fit, I read that person’s profile and see who connects me to him or her.
  • If there really is a place where our goals could meet, I write a brief (6-8 sentence email) that explains what I’d like to learn and invites a conversation. I use that to ask a friend to introduce us or send a direct in-mail message on my own. The key is to be specific and guarantee a limited need for commitment on the receiver’s end.

I had a wonderful conversation yesterday with someone I met in this fashion. I expect that we’ll be doing business soon.

On the other hand, I sometimes look to find that something in my profile has attracted a list of folks with whom I might never have the right skill set to form a partnership. If people from the same group keep showing up, I look to my profile for the words that need editing.

Do you pay attention to the folks who are viewing your profile? The more you know about who finds you, the more easily you can adjust your profile to bring the partners who are right for you.

UPDATE: I WAS UNAWARE THAT THIS FEATURE WHICH CAME WITH THE NEW DESIGN IS ONLY ON PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTS.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Check out Models and Masterminds too

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16 Comments to “Revising Your LinkedIn Profile: Who’s Looking at YOU?”

  1. May 31st, 2008 at 9:08 am
    Karin H. said

    To be honest, Liz, no - never.

    LinkedIn, don’t know what to do with it, expect finding old colleagues. Recently mailed one of them to congratulate him with his promotion to Managing Director (not at the company we both worked for).
    I know Jason Albo has written a perfect book on LinkedIn (I’m on Linked-In, now what?, but I’m afraid it’s still a complete mystery for me. Perhaps I’m not in a ’service’ business but retail with rather local clients.

    Karin H. (Keep It Simple Sweetheart, specially in business)

  2. May 31st, 2008 at 9:08 am
    Karin H. said

    Make that Jason Alba, sorry Jason, slip of the keyboard!

  3. May 31st, 2008 at 12:11 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Karin,
    It’s most of the folks I know that are feeling like you are.

    All it takes is a little nosing around a few minutes at a time to see what’s there. You might be surprised what ideas come through.

  4. May 31st, 2008 at 4:58 pm
    Tammy Lenski said

    Liz, when we talked on the phone last week, I was so intrigued by your use of that list in this way, and this post provides some great details to fill in the blanks left in my understanding after we chatted. You are so smart!

  5. May 31st, 2008 at 6:54 pm
    juliemarg said

    I’m sad. Apparently no one is viewing me. The box is missing.

  6. May 31st, 2008 at 7:05 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Thanks Tammy,
    I found some great partners last week. Though I’m very careful not to be spamming. :)

  7. May 31st, 2008 at 7:06 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Juliemarg,
    No worries. I’ve heard this is part of the professional package I pay for. You might not have it. Sorry to mislead you. :(

  8. May 31st, 2008 at 7:19 pm
    juliemarg said

    Oh thank you. I feel better.

  9. June 1st, 2008 at 9:29 am
    Jackie said

    Thanks for this tip! I just learned that nobody is checking out my profile. Poor me.

  10. June 1st, 2008 at 11:55 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Jackie,
    I found out yesterday that this feature is only on professional accounts. I thought it was part of the new design. . . . sorry to make your heart beat.

    They’re just not showing you who’s looking.

  11. June 2nd, 2008 at 6:44 am
    Brad Shorr said

    Liz, this is quite interesting. Do you think it’s worth upgrading to a professional account? Is what you’re talking about here the main benefit of the upgrade, in your experience?

  12. June 2nd, 2008 at 7:38 am
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Hi Brad,
    It would really depend on whether you’ve found that LinkedIn draws your client base. In your case, the ability to send targeted in-mails and search in this fashion could be worth it — because you work with a sales and corporate business often.

  13. June 3rd, 2008 at 12:01 am
    How to Get More Out of LinkedIn : Codswallop said

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  14. June 7th, 2008 at 2:55 am
    LinkedIn + Meetic = Sparkbliss at :: DMY :: said

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  15. June 30th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
    Mark Frisk said

    This feature is not restricted to professional accounts. I have a personal account and the Profile Views box is visible.

    Two explanations for why the feature might not be visible to a particular user:

    1) It hasn’t been rolled out to 100% of users yet.

    2) It might not appear if no one’s viewed your profile in the past week.

    Above points picked up from comments on this post at the LinkedIn blog:

    http://blog.linkedin.com/blog/2007/05/guess_whos_view.html

  16. June 30th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
    ME Liz Strauss said

    Thanks Mark,
    That link sets it all straight!

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