Published: 27 Nov 2024
A LinkedIn profile is as essential for a lawyer and business person as a gavel is for a judge or a coffee maker for a Monday morning. We network, "socialise," and flex our professional muscles on this digital catwalk. It is the place where we all pretend to love articles we did not read, endorse skills we are not sure exist, and collect connections like they are going out of fashion.
Now, we all dive into LinkedIn not just for the sheer joy of seeing another "I'm thrilled to announce..." post, but because, apparently, opportunities lurk behind every interaction. However, navigating the B2B social media platform comes with its own set of booby traps, not unlike trying to avoid your relatives' friend requests on other platforms.
We have meticulously cobbled together a guide of best practices and handy tips to keep yourself safe on LinkedIn. It is not exhaustive, so do reach out to us if you want to add to the list below. Once we have verified that you are not a bot we will add it to the list - enshrining your name in the LinkedIn Hall of Safety, right between the guy who invented blockchain and the person who actually knows what it is.
LinkedIn Safety Tips
Password
The most obvious but often ignored tip is to use a unique password for your LinkedIn account, it should be longer than your mothers maiden name or worse than your actual pets name (8 characters with letters, numbers and special characters). Passw0rd! is not the good password.
Password Manager
Are you the reigning champ of the “Forgot Your Password?” league? Avoid the blushes and inconvenience by using a password manager. It stores all your long and obscure passwords in a secured vault. There are many services out there such as 1Password and Bitwarden (these are examples and not recommendations).
Browser Password
It is convenient and easy to save your password in your browser when that cute pop-up appears. It is advisable not to do this because if someone gains access to your computer or mobile device they can access your saved passwords.
2FA
(Two Factor Verification)
2FA adds an extra lawyer of authentication, which means each time you login you will need your username, password as well as a code that can be sent to your mobile phone number or be generated from an authentication app such as Microsoft authentication (again, this is just an example). If you are not too tech savvy or type with one finger, try out the SMS verification. More information can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a1358878/
Secure Email
It is recommended to associate a work email or a personal paid for email address and not your Hotmail email address from university. A Gmail account should also be avoided due to the amount of Spam they generate. You can also add secondary emails so if you fired and your work email is deactivated you can rely on your personal email.
Email Visibility
LinkedIn allows you to set who can see your email address at https://www.linkedin.com/mypreferences/d/settings/email-address-visibility Toggling this off will prevent tons of spam and guard against other using your email address as part of a scam. If you enjoy spam and scams, then there is an option to allow anyone on LinkedIn to see your email address.
Connection Visibility
We all love to name drop or brag who we know. If name-dropping is not your style you can go incognito and switch off connection visibility (https://www.linkedin.com/mypreferences/d/settings/connections-visibility). This will prevent others from seeing your connections. It will, however, still allow connections to see mutual connections or connections you have endorsed.
Network
Only connect with people you know. If you don’t know many people then you need to start attending industry events.
Privacy
If you like your privacy then LinkedIn may not be for you. If you want some privacy but still enjoy the benefits of LinkedIn you can replace your last name with an initial at https://www.linkedin.com/mypreferences/d/last-name-visibility.
Exporting Your Data
Export what? Yes, if you opt in, LinkedIn allows certain people and companies to export your data. You may want to switch these off at https://www.linkedin.com/mypreferences/d/settings/data-export-by-page-admins and https://www.linkedin.com/mypreferences/d/profile-visibility-for-partners
User Session
If you have logged into LinkedIn on multiple devices, you can end those sessions via this link https://www.linkedin.com/mypreferences/d/user-sessions. It is a good idea to check these sessions every few months to ensure that a nefarious penguin has not hopped on to your account in Antarctica. You can also end sessions on old or lost devices.
LinkedIn Emails
If Richard Branson is requesting you as a contact, do not get excited! Never click on any links in email that purports to be from LinkedIn. If you think you have received a message just log in to your account and look at your invitations: https://www.linkedin.com/mynetwork/
Blocking
We all have that one person we do not like. LinkedIn can help you block them. You can view all the people you blocked people here: https://www.linkedin.com/mypreferences/d/manage-by-blocked-list
LinkedIn Settings
LinkedIn has a lot of features in its Settings section, located on the drop down under your profile picture in the top menu bar. We encourage you to have a poke around to make sure your Settings & Privacy are all in order.
Explicit Actions
You can report all the naughty things on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a1378278/
Job Offers
“Work from home and earn millions!”. Now that we have your attention, we want you to exercise caution when interacting with job offers. If they message your via LinkedIn do your due diligence before clicking on links. They could contain some nasties.
Posting
Be careful what you post! We all love to brag a bit but avoid publishing personal, confidential or client information and details about soon to launch projects.
Clean Up
Spring cleaning your connections on LinkedIn can be liberating. Periodically you may want to remove some connections who seem suspicious or never refer work to you.
LinkedIn settings and features can evolve over time, so it is important to stay informed. Make sure to regularly review and update your settings to keep up with any changes.
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