Member Avatar for MktgRob

A friend of mine, who is out of work, was looking through my contacts to see if I had any in a company he was trying to get a job with. He found out that because of one of my 1st level contacts I have President Obama, John McCain, Sarah Palin and a few other politicians as second level contacts. This got me to wondering who else was in my community. And as employers are using social media more and more to look into prospective employees backgrounds, it is probably good to know who is there.

By the way, along with the politicians I am linked I also discovered a few actors, singer and adult movie stars among my contacts. Does this make you curious to find out who is in yours? If you have anyone good let us know.

  • 2 Contributors
  • 2 Replies
  • 92 Views
  • 5 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by MktgRob

Dani AI

Generated

Good points from and . Unexpected second‑degree links can create impressions you do not control, and that makes a short, practical audit worthwhile. The goal is not to sever useful relationships but to present a deliberate, professional profile.

  • Make your connections list private: Settings & Privacy -> Visibility -> Who can see your connections -> choose "Only you" so others cannot browse your network.
  • Remove unwanted first‑degree contacts: open a connection's profile, use the More menu and remove the connection. LinkedIn does not notify the removed party.
  • Prefer "Follow" to "Connect" for public figures or people you do not know; customize invite messages for new connections to document intent.
  • Tighten your public profile: edit what appears to non‑logged visitors (headline, summary, public sections) so search results and recruiters see your chosen narrative.
  • Do an audit quarterly: export or review your connections, trim contacts that no longer serve your goals, and mute or unfollow noisy feeds without removing the relationship.

Note: trimming visible links reduces casual impressions but cannot erase all indirect associations. Focus on clear, consistent content and a professional headline so context is obvious when someone does look.

Recommended Answers

All 2 Replies

Member Avatar for InsightsDigital

Oh adult stars and Sarah Palin. Hmm.. Anyway, this is interesting because such connections may lead for misinterpretations by others who may not directly know you. That is why it is important to be careful with whom you connect with.

Member Avatar for MktgRob

Oh adult stars and Sarah Palin. Hmm.. Anyway, this is interesting because such connections may lead for misinterpretations by others who may not directly know you. That is why it is important to be careful with whom you connect with.

The funny thing is that I tracked the connections back and the politicians are due to my connection to the leader of one of the groups I belong to that I met at an event. He is really hooked in with a lot of prominent c-level execs who introduced him to the politicians. And politicians love to have successful people they can call a 'friend'.

As for the adult film stars, one of my old co-workers worked for a site designer who did some work for some of the bigger names in adult entertainment who wanted to go somewhat legit. And they being the kind souls that they are, link to up and coming actresses who laying (sorry for the word but it fits) the ground work to be future entrepreneurs like the bigger names.

So, I think no matter how well you vet your connections some questionable and interesting people are going to be linked to you by association. But in reality, if you have over 3.5 million people linked to you some are going to get in that make you scratch your head.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.