October 5, 2011
Question: I deleted my LinkedIn account. Will my name disappear in the Who’s Viewed Your Profile screen of LinkedIn?
Question: I have dropped to ‘Anonymous’ after I viewed some profiles- now I have deleted the account- will they still be able to tell? Help!!
Question: I viewed a bunch of LinkedIn profiles only to find they can see that I was stalking them! I deleted my LinkedIn account. Will my name still show up in their Who’s Viewed My Profile list?
Answer: I’ve received this question a number of times. Clearly it’s a universal issue. I wasn’t sure of the answer so I created a new LinkedIn account to see how it works.
With the new account created, I made sure I was logged in as this new LinkedIn user and I viewed my regular LinkedIn profile. I then logged off and logged back in as my normal self and viewed my “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” Profile Stats page:
As you can clearly see, the fake LinkedIn account is listed on the Who’s Viewed Your Profile of the LinkedIn Profile Stats page.
I logged out of my normal account and logged back in as the fake account and deleted it.
Once the account was deleted, I logged back in to my normal account. Here’s how the Who’s Viewed My Profile list looked after the fake account was deleted:
So as you can see, the view is still registered but instead of showing the account’s contact information, it now shows as Anonymous.
It’s important to remember that unlike Facebook, people can see that you viewed their profile UNLESS you change your LinkedIn settings to show you as anonymous. Click here to be whisked away to the LinkedIn Settings page where you can update this information.
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Hi Donna,
Thanks for this information. I do regularly check who’s visited my profile recently and DON’T count it as ‘stalking’ – instead, if I see value in getting connected with those who I am not yet connected with, I extend the invitation. There’s no harm after all and I have seen this initiative developing into a valuable relationship.
What’s your take on on what some people consider as ‘stalking’, while there are others like me who rather welcome being seen and known. It sometimes is my professional requirement to see people’s profile – especially researching possible speakers / influencers etc for conferences.
I sometimes feel like going anonymous, but then I’m hooked on to seeing who’s visited my page!
Hi Mustafa!
I agree with you. There is absolute value in keeping yourself visible. In fact, I find that it’s a great way to get more views to your profile. People see you checking them out and so they check you out!
The only time “stalking” comes into play is if you keep visiting the same profile over and over and over again. If you are compelled to view a person’s profile everyday, you may want to turn off your visibility for that moment.
–Donna
Thank you so much for this! I just the other day created a LinkedIn, went crazy looking up just about every person I’ve ever met, especially long-lost people, many of whom I was mortified to discover would see that I’d viewed their pages, so I panicked(!!) and went anonymous then deleted my account altogether! It would be nice if they warned you ahead of time, while rushing you through the profile creation steps, that, oh yeah, everyone will be able to see how many times you’ve been creeping on their page unless you change your settings.
I’d like to re-register, though, and start over as anonymous, but now I’m paranoid that my name will show back up on those peoples’ stats unless I wait some magic length of time–any idea how often they refresh stats–every week, month, 90 days?…If a person doesn’t get many views, do you stay longer in their stats? Or will I show back up but as “anonymous user”? Which would = “phew!”
Thanks again for the relief. 🙂
Any idea if deleting your account after you’ve viewed someone’s profile will also remove your name from their notifications? My situation is exactly like Aimee’s. I got rid of my account but I’m worried that the notification will still be there.
Hello,
I have the same question. I viewed someone´s profile while logged in, and just remembered afterwards that the person could see that I looked at his profile and didn´t want the person to know it. So, I serached in the internet and found this website and did what was recommended.
•I changed my privacy settings into “totally anonymous”
•Afeterwards I deleted my account
Can I be sure that the person cannot see that I looked at her profile? Will I show up anonymous or not at all?
Thanks for your answer,
Hi Donna,
What about the case in which I viewed someone’s profile, that I didn’t want to know, so I changed the setting to “Totally anonymous”, but I did not delete my account (because I want to keep my account of course). Will that someone see “Totally anonymous” viewed their account? Or is it too late to change the setting?
Thank you,
Jen
Does anyone know if you’ve viewed someone’s profile and then change your privacy setting to anonymous afterwards, if that person will be able to see that you viewed their profile or if your settings will reflect your past profile viewing?
Also when you search a name but don’t click on full profile would that count as viewing profile?
People with premium accounts can still see if you viewed their profile and how you found them, even if you’re anonymous. That’s why I deleted my account.
Hi Donna, I found this page while I was doing a search. I have yet to find my answer. Maybe you can help me? A few months ago, I deleted my LinkedIn account. Since then, I’ve had several invitations to connect both from people I know and from people I don’t. So, how can they “see” me and request a connection if my account is deleted? Thank you in advance for your help!
Hi,
I viewed someone’s profile and I just deleted my account out of panic, did I have to make it anonymous before I did that?!
I didn’t, I just deleted it and now I’m panicking so much!
How long does it take for the account to delete! I’m so worried!
I too viewed profiles of people from my past without realizing the horror that they could see I had checked them out. As soon as I realized my mistake I deleted my account. Unfortunately, a friend whose page I had also viewed has told me my name still shows in his profile views so the above example is either wrong or Linkedin has changed since 2011. A bloody nightmare.
I too viewed profiles of people from my past before realizing the horror that they could see I was checking them out. I deleted my account immediately. Unfortunately a friend has told me my name still appears on his profile views so the above example is either wrong or Linkedin has changed since 2011. A bloody nightmare!
Hello, so I was wondering if a person will still be able to read a message I sent to their inbox, even after I have deleted my account? I did not delete the thread or message, just the account and I am wondering if they will still be able to read it even though my account is deleted… thanks!!
I accidentally invited a person I was looking at and dont want that person to know I was looking. So I deleted my account. I take it they will see I was looking at them and invited them even though I deleted the account
Hi Guys,
I got scammed, starting from a supposed related work profile in linkedin so I accepted the connections.
We moved to WhatsApp for talking and the whole story began bla bla bla…
That said, after all problems, I checked the linkedin profile and obviously it was cancelled.
How come the historical message chat are gone too? Should not be stay there?
Can anybody assist me, it would be highly appreciated.
tks