Have you ever wondered what a LinkedIn profile’s Activity and Interests sections can tell you about a person? Heck, you might not even know about these sections.

People often ask me how to decide whether or not to connect with someone on LinkedIn. Checking out these sections, especially the Activity section, can help you make this decision.

 

Activity Section

The Activity section includes everything that a person has posted, shared, reacted to, or commented on in the last 90 days. This section is found just above their Experience section in their profile.

Start by clicking on the words “See all activity,” which is found at the bottom of this section. Then, you have the option to click on “All activity,” “Articles,” “Posts,” and “Documents.”

  • Posts are both the posts that the person has created themselves and the ones they have shared that others have written. LinkedIn has a limit of 1,300 characters (about 240 words) for each post. Therefore, people need to create Articles if they want to share something longer than 1,300 characters.
  • When you click on “All activity,” you will see what the person has liked, reacted to or commented on. You will also see the posts they have created or shared as well as their articles. You will also see the documents they have shared, such as a PDF of their resume.
  • What LinkedIn users create or share from others via posts and articles can be very enlightening. You can learn about their expertise, as well as their point of view on many topics. Also, their personality and style often shine through when you read their posts and articles and their responses to others’ posts.

Keep in mind that all your activity on LinkedIn is public to people who view this section, even folks who are not your connections.

 

Interests Section

The Interests section is found at the very bottom of a person’s profile. The parts of this section include “Influencers,” “Companies,” “Groups,” and “Schools.”

  • Influencers are well-known people a person follows. You might understand more about a person’s worldview and values through checking out their influencers.
  • It can be more difficult to ascertain anything about a person based strictly on the companies they follow. However, there are several possibilities. They could have worked at the company. Or they may have clients or referral partners who work at the company. Or they could be the consumer of services or products offered by the company.
  • A person’s LinkedIn groups can be the most revealing part of this section. These groups can range from their professional organization’s LinkedIn group to those associated with their hobbies or interests. Sometime you can get ideas for groups to join by finding them in a person’s Interests section.
  • Finally, the schools listed in this section indicate which college(s) the person has included in their Education section. To some extent, you can learn about the person by the kind of college they attended.

 

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those age 55 and up, to become more effective using social media, especially LinkedIn and Facebook.

She works with business owners, business development professionals, business consultants, job seekers, and more – ranging from entrepreneurs to people in large corporations. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.