Linkedin is a great resource for professional networking, information gathering and sharing, and discovering volunteer, work, and other opportunities. It also does a fairly good job of keeping us in the know about what's going with others with whom we're connected through email updates as well as their homepage. Usually, when I see an update that one of my friends or former colleagues has received a new promotion, job, or is now seeking new opportunities, I reach out via email or a phone call and congratulate them and/or see how I might be of assistance.
However, there are many reasons you might not want your information being broadcasted every time you make an update. Perhaps, you're trying to update your profile to prepare for new opportunities. Maybe you're simply updating your profile in stages and don't want to show up in multiple emails as you make periodic updates. It might be something altogether different. Recently a friend simply changed the title of her current job to better describe what she does and I received an email telling me I should congratulate her on her new position. More than a few people have said, "Thanks, but I didn't know Linkedin sent out a message. I didn't want anybody to know. Thanks for letting me know you saw it. Do you know how I can stop that from happening?"
By default, Linkedin broadcasts your updates. However, there in a few steps you can change your preferences to stop that from happening. After being asked more than a few times, I thought I'd put together this brief tutorial complete with screenshots. I hope this is helpful for you. I've highlighted the click points in yellow.
Step 1: Login to Linkedin and then hover your mouse over your profile icon in the top left of the page.
Step 2: Click on "Privacy and Settings" from the drop down menu.
Step 3: Click on "Turn on/off your activity broadcasts."
Step 4: Uncheck the box and save changes.
That's it. I hope that was helpful. Let me know if you have any questions at @michaelbmaine on Twitter.
