10 Ways to Get More Out of LinkedIn

Many regard LinkedIn as the “safe” social network, but that’s no reason to ignore the privacy and account settings that LinkedIn has in place.

You can find your list of settings by clicking on your name on the top right of the screen and choosing Settings. Check out these five important privacy settings, which control whether or not your profile is private, whether your LinkedIn actions appear on other people’s feeds and which sites you’ve granted access to your profile.

Resist the typical boilerplate if you’re serious about making a connection.

Before you click “Connect,” find out more about them—past jobs, groups they belong to, hobbies they have. Then discover what you have in common and craft a personal note to generate a memorable introduction before you tell them why you want to connect.

[For more — LinkedIn Etiquette: The Right Way to Request New Connections]

Looking for an easy way to find and keep track of your connections on LinkedIn and Twitter? Try the Tweets application.

The app displays tweets from accounts you follow. You can view a feed based on the Twitter lists you’ve compiled, or update your status from this page. The “Connections” tab displays those who have added their Twitter user names to their profile, and you can follow them accordingly.

[For more, Find and Follow Your LinkedIn Connections on Twitter]

Participating in a handful of groups related to your professional interests will expand your network. Find “Groups” on the navigation bar. From here you can search for a group to join, manage your groups or start a new one. Groups will keep you updated with industry-related information, plus they function as a forum where you can propose and answer questions, helping you become a recognizable name.

[For more: 5 LinkedIn Groups to Boost Your Social Media Savvy]