Over the past few weeks, several clients have asked us, “What do the new green dots and circles mean on LinkedIn? They must mean online, but what’s the difference? And can I turn it off?”, so we’ve written this blog to help provide some clarity.
What do the green dots mean on LinkedIn profile pictures?
Active Status has been introduced so that users can see when their connections are online, and when they will receive push notifications to their phone, providing you with an opportunity to contact them at the optimum time.
The Solid Green Dot
As you might suspect, a solid green circle next to a user’s profile picture means that the user is currently online, either on desktop or their mobile. The user will be notified of any private messages sent to them through LinkedIn’s private messaging service.
The Green Doughnut
A green status dot with a white circle in the middle (or green doughnut!) means that the user is only available through mobile. The user isn’t currently online, but they will receive a push notification if any messages are sent to their account (unless they have push notifications disabled!), in a similar way to receiving Facebook Messenger notifications when you’re not on Facebook.
Why don’t all profile pictures have a dot?
A circle with no colour means that the profile is either currently offline, or the user has disabled the Active Status feature. Any messages sent to this profile will still be delivered, but won’t be seen until the user next accesses the LinkedIn messaging service of their own accord.
How do I turn off the Green Dot or Active Status on LinkedIn?
Before you turn Active Status off, you should know that if you do, you’ll also lose the ability to see when your connections are active on LinkedIn. Just like turning off read receipts on WhatsApp.
To turn active status on or off
- Navigate to the Settings & Privacy page from the dropdown under
- Select the Privacy tab
- Beneath the Profile Privacy section, click ‘Change’ beside ‘Manage Active Status’
- Move the toggle to ‘No’ under the heading ‘Display your active status’
Why is Active Status useful?
LinkedIn has always been a great platform for professional networking and discovering new opportunities, but Active Status has helped it to becoming more fluid, encouraging users to use its messaging service more and spend more time on the platform.
If you see that a user is online, you know you’re more likely to get an instant response, making it easier and more convenient to arrange meetings or share content privately via LinkedIn.
Can I benefit in other ways from it?
We’ve observed that Active Status is having an impact on LinkedIn’s algorithm. It appears that the content, shares and engagements of those who are more regularly online are taking prominence in other people’s news feed, perhaps to try and encourage LinkedIn users to interact with each other much more. This doesn’t just mean comments and likes on posts, but also sending direct messages or InMails.
If you would like help with getting more out of LinkedIn and your digital presence, talk to us today.