LinkedIn is an excellent way to network and connect professionally. One of the most basic actions you can take on LinkedIn is to follow other users. This way you can stay up to date with their professional activities, industry insights and other valuable content they share. In this article, you’ll learn how to follow someone on LinkedIn.
Whether you’re looking to expand your network, gain industry insight, or stay in touch with colleagues, following someone on LinkedIn can be a valuable resource in helping you achieve your professional goals. Let’s see how following someone on LinkedIn can help you. However, first things first.
Difference between Follow vs. Connect on LinkedIn
Following and connecting on LinkedIn are two different actions with different meanings. First, following someone on LinkedIn is a one-way connection, which means you’ll get updates about their activity, such as: B. Posts, Comments and Reposts.
Conversely, connecting with someone on LinkedIn means establishing a professional relationship with them. You should be able to private message them and they can read your posts and comments.
Most importantly, your connection is visible to others on the platform. Now that you know the difference, let’s learn more about how to follow someone on LinkedIn through a variety of means.
How to follow someone on LinkedIn
There are many ways you can follow someone on LinkedIn. We’ve covered every possible path for you to follow. Not only that, but we’ve also included a step-by-step guide for you to run it well to improve your overall experience on LinkedIn.
Method 1: How to follow people on LinkedIn using the search button
Connecting with new people is LinkedIn’s core competency. With the option to search for people and companies, the platform allows you to search for people to connect, follow and expand your professional network.
LinkedIn’s search button plays a more important role, especially when you know who you’re looking to connect with. Things become more manageable when you know who to follow and their usernames. Here’s how to use it to follow someone on LinkedIn.
From PC
Step 1: Go to LinkedIn and log in with your credentials.
Step 2: Click on the search box next to the LinkedIn logo in the top left corner.
Step 3: Enter the name of the person you want to connect with, navigate through the list and select the person you are looking for.
You land on their LinkedIn profile page.
Step 4: Click the Follow button under the name and other details.
If you see the Follow option but want to connect, continue to the next step.
Step 5: Click on the profile name.
Step 6: On their profile page, select More.
Step 7: Select Connect from the drop-down menu.
Step 8: In the “You can customize this invitation” popup, you can select “Add a note” or “Send”.
That’s it. You sent the connection request, but now the other end needs to accept so you can professionally connect to the person.
If you’re on the go and don’t have access to your PC, skip to the next section to understand how to do the same with the LinkedIn mobile app.
From cellphone
Step 1: Open the LinkedIn app on your Android or iOS device and tap Search at the top.
Step 2: Enter the name of the person you want to connect with and select the person from the search list.
Step 3: On the next screen, tap on the “Follow” button under the profile details.
If you don’t want to follow but want to connect with the person, continue to the next step.
Step 4: Tap “View Full Profile”.
Step 5: Navigate to the three dots icon and select Connect at the bottom.
After you’ve sent your connection request, it’s now up to the other party to accept it. You’ll get a confirmation that you’re connected as soon as you do so.
At that point, you knew the person and were looking for them. What if you know the person and got into their account through mutual connections or LinkedIn recommendations? Proceed to the next method.
Method 2: How to follow someone on LinkedIn from their profile
It’s convenient to follow someone from their profile on LinkedIn on PC or mobile. The best part is that once you land on the person’s profile, you can check their account activity and learn more about them.
From PC
Landing on the person’s LinkedIn account from the PC gives you a general bird’s-eye view of the account. The steps are relatively easy to follow.
Step 1: Go to LinkedIn and log in with your credentials.
Step 2: Click on the user profile from LinkedIn recommendations.
Note: We’ll assume you’re happy with recommendations and other LinkedIn features, such as B. mutual connections, land on the profile. If not, you can search for the username in the search bar as mentioned in the previous method.
You land on their LinkedIn profile page.
Step 3: From here, click on the “Follow” or “Connect” button under the name and other details.
Step 4: To connect, click the More button. Select Connect from the drop-down menu.
You can also choose Add Note or Send Without. Here we go. You have sent the connection request.
From cellphone
Step 1: Open the LinkedIn app on your Android or iOS device.
Step 2: Tap on the user profile from LinkedIn recommendations.
Note: We assume that you are aware of recommendations and other LinkedIn features such as B. mutual connections, get to the profile. If not, you can type the username in the search bar.
You land on their LinkedIn profile screen.
Step 3: Tap on the “Follow” button.
Step 4: To connect, tap the three dots button and select Connect.
If you tap connect, you’ll automatically follow them. Even if they don’t accept your connection request, you will still follow them for updates.
Method 3: How to follow someone on LinkedIn from the news feed
If you scroll through LinkedIn’s news feed, you may see that some accounts have an option to follow directly, and some have a connect option natively embedded in the feed.
Why are the keys different? Well, some people are tagged as influencers or Pages on LinkedIn, while others are regular accounts. The influencers or Pages have a “Follow” button right next to their name, while the general accounts (the “Follow” button in select cases, but mostly) have the “Connect” button so you can quickly send connection requests without leaving their profile to go through in depth.
Also Read: How to Add a Resume to Your LinkedIn Profile: A Detailed Guide
Method 4: How to re-follow someone you previously unfollowed
LinkedIn tracks people you’ve unfollowed, making it easier to follow the person you’ve unfollowed without having to search for them.
On the PC
Step 1: Go to LinkedIn and log in with your credentials.
Step 2: Click the Me (Profile) button.
Step 3: Select “Settings & Privacy” from the drop-down menu.
Step 4: From the Account Settings, under the General Settings section, select People You Unfollow.
Step 5: Finally, click Follow.
That’s it. You’ve successfully followed the person on LinkedIn. If you are mobile, proceed to the next method.
On the phone
Step 1: Open the LinkedIn app on your Android or iOS device.
Step 2: Tap on your profile picture on the top left and select Settings.
Step 3: On the Settings page, tap Account Settings.
Step 4: In the account settings under “General settings” select “People you don’t follow”.
You’ll see a list of people you’ve unfollowed.
Step 5: Tap on the “Follow” button next to the user’s name to follow them.
Here we go. You have followed the person you unfollowed on LinkedIn. If it’s not the person or page you want to follow, but want to follow a specific hashtag instead, you can. Proceed to the next method.
How to follow hashtags on LinkedIn
Following hashtags on LinkedIn makes it easy to follow industry trends and interesting posts to engage with, increase your social reach, find new opportunities, and most importantly, discover new connections. The steps are similar for web and mobile.
Step 1: Go to LinkedIn and log in with your credentials.
Step 2: Click on the search box and type in the hashtag you want to follow.
Example: #problem solution
Step 3: From the search results, click the Follow button.
Here we go. You have successfully followed the hashtag on LinkedIn. To unfollow a hashtag, go to My Network in the top navigation bar, select Hashtags in the left pane, and click Unfollow the hashtags you don’t want to follow.
If you have questions that we haven’t answered, check out the FAQ section below.
Frequently Asked Questions About Following Someone on LinkedIn 1. Will someone know if you unfollow them on LinkedIn?
No, if you unfollow someone on LinkedIn, they will not receive a notification. LinkedIn only sends notifications when they connect with you, message you, like, comment, share your post, or tag you.
2. Can someone still see my posts if I unfollow them?
Yes, people can still see your posts if you unfollow them on LinkedIn. When you post on LinkedIn, your content is public and anyone can see it, regardless of whether they follow you. However, if you unfollow someone, their posts will not appear in your feed and you will not receive notifications about their activity on the platform.
3. Why can I follow LinkedIn but not connect?
If you follow someone on LinkedIn, you may not have connections in common with them, or they may not have the option to connect with others turned on. When you follow someone on LinkedIn, you’ll see their public posts and updates in your feed without being directly connected.
4. What is considered a good following on LinkedIn?
There is no set number that is considered good followers on LinkedIn as it can vary based on a number of factors including industry, role and personal goals. When you have a large LinkedIn following, you can expand your professional network, increase visibility, and open up new career opportunities.
Lead your way
Now that you know how to follow someone on LinkedIn, it’s important to understand that following someone is just one way to build your network. There are many other ways to interact with the platform and expand your reach. You may also want to read how to deactivate your LinkedIn account.
