The other week I discovered the “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” feature on LinkedIn, which enumerates exactly who has been peering at your online curriculum vitae within the last 15days. I was surprised to find that someone whom I’d met a few days before, in a social setting, was on the list. Feeling slightly perturbed, I told Katie about the feature and about what I discovered.
“Isn’t that weird?” I said, acting as though I’d never done any social media stalking of my own (Me? Why, heavens, no!)
Katie shrugged. “Isn’t that what social media is for? Isn’t that why you have a LinkedIn profile, so people can see it?”
I conceded that yes, yes that was the whole point after all, and then I sheepishly thought of all the times I had Googled strangers’ social media profiles (don’t lie, you do it too!).
At first, I thought this LinkedIn feature was invasive. Yes, I may look at other people’s profiles, but I certainly don’t want them knowing! What good does that do anyone, besides making me look creepy? I huffed and I puffed, and it wasn’t until later when realized just how valuable this tool is.
The “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” tool gives you an insight into who’s interested in you. While this might sound weird, it is actually a potentially great feature, one which can open whole new doors of networking opportunities for you. By knowing that someone has viewed your profile on LinkedIn, you could use this as a legitimate ice breaker to contact them, get to know them and perhaps add them to your network.
Yes, the “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” confirms everything we’ve known along—that other people and even strangers will sometimes look us up online. But why not use this to our advantage so we can network and expand our professional contacts?
If you do feel extremely uncomfortable about people knowing you looked at their profile, you can turn it off in your LinkedIn settings. To be fair, then, LinkedIn won’t allow you to see who has viewed your profile.
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