Informed: the podcast for LinkedIn® users

How do you report someone and what happens when LinkedIn ignores your feedback?See Melanie Goodman’s post———LinkedIn has a new CEO: Daniel ShaperoContent DNA is 6 years old – read sample chaptersEspresso+ members now get the full 32-chapter audiobook for free.What comment features do you want?Crosscheck AI featureYour LinkedIn headline mattersSolo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/joinSupport the show: Informed is not sponsored, so all production and hosting is self-funded. To make a small donation, go to jesp.me/informed-tip – thanks!

PostbagVoice note response to Mark Lee’s question, from Tonny Mikkelsen.Mark’s real question was about limiting content searches to the UK only. There's no good route for that, as the "All filters" panel on post searches does not include anything about location.———Post collaborationsDifferences between desktop and mobile versions of LinkedInCustomise your profile usernameSolo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/joinSupport the show: Informed is not sponsored, so all production and hosting is self-funded. To make a small donation, go to jesp.me/informed-tip – thanks!

Last week we ran the third annual UpLift Live conference in Birmingham. This episode contains some reflections on the day from me and from some of our attendees and speakers.Our speakers for the 2026 conference were, in order:John EspirianTony RestellNicole OsborneMic AdamGuy StrijboschHeather MurrayPhill AgnewDave HarlandBrenda MellerNo Postbag this week – but please do send in your questions for next week's show.If you missed the conference and would like to watch the talks from 2024, 2025 or 2026, please grab a replay ticket at uplift-live.com/replaySolo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/joinSupport the show: Informed is not sponsored, so all production and hosting is self-funded. To make a small donation, go to jesp.me/informed-tip – thanks!

This week's show "acknowledges" the challenge LinkedIn seems to have in presenting a stable user interface to its users.PostbagVoice note from Kaye King about improving our feedsVoice note from Christian Harris on LinkedIn groupsVoice note from Kate Nankivell about line spacing in the About statement———LinkedIn is showing a weird mix of languages on the user interface. Why?Throwback to 5 years ago when I posted a video of how to say hello and thank you in many different languagesDeliberately using typos to make text look real? (Please never do this.)LinkedIn is the most cited domain for professional queries, according to research by ProfoundSolo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/joinSupport the show: Informed is not sponsored, so all production and hosting is self-funded. To make a small donation, go to jesp.me/informed-tip – thanks!

Among other topics, this week's show is about LinkedIn voice notes. I love them!PostbagMark Lee voice note on spam commentsNiraj Kapur has sent a voice note about AI, based on the content of last week's episode.I'll be sending more voice notes from now on – see my guide on LinkedIn voice notesMy average post length based on 5 years of dataI want to do more guest podcasts! See my past appearances on other podcastsLinkedIn's weekly sharing tracker now gone. There are more than 10 such updates coming in the next LinkedIn Roundup for Espresso+ members.LinkedIn Local in Birmingham: join us on 6 March.There's now a "living" LinkedIn newsletter that links to all my episodes of this podcast and that I will update each week.Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/joinSupport the show: Informed is not sponsored, so all production and hosting is self-funded. To make a small donation, go to jesp.me/informed-tip – thanks!

This week's show comes out early to remind you of this weekend's price rise for the UpLift Live 26. We have an interview with our final speaker, the host of the Nudge podcast, Phill Agnew.PostbagAshley Leeds: Premium banner image buttonsCaryn Yuen: Some experts say that sharing glimpses of your personal life can help build your brand and make it easier for your audience to connect with you. How important do you think this is? How often should one be doing this? How do you decide what’s worth sharing, and what’s not?———Phill Agnew interview: our final speaker at UpLift Live 26 on 26 March 2026. Get your ticket at uplift-live.com and see all speaker interviews at uplift-live.com/speakersMore in this episode:Conference planning videoBanner image size blogAbout those post-it notesSolo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/joinSupport the show: Informed is not sponsored, so all production and hosting is self-funded. To make a small donation, go to jesp.me/informed-tip – thanks!

This week we look at audio pronunciation on your profile.Postbag Sara Gallagher: How can I realistically tell what advice is applicable to me, and what "works" because of the skewed sample but won’t in the broader LinkedIn universe? Does it just come down to trial and error?Is your security certificate valid?Recording an audio pronunciationMystery speaker for UpLift Live 26 – who is it?Illiya Vjestica is running a bonus UpLift Live 26 webinar on Thursday 5 February at 4pm, on the topic of presentation best practice. This one's free for all ticket-holders to the 2026 conference.Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/joinSupport the show: Informed is not sponsored, so all production and hosting is self-funded. To make a small donation, go to jesp.me/informed-tip – thanks!

What is real and what is fake on LinkedIn? We're looking at some fake accounts this week.PostbagGillian Whitney voice noteCan anything be done to stop DMs fragmenting when sending LinkedIn recommendations?LinkedIn security fake accountUpdate on fake LinkedIn security accounts via Guy StrijboschWhere did all the Top Voices go?Keep your headline short: check out some tips on the importance of making a quick impact with your profile headline.UpLift Live conference discountOur most recent LaunchPad call went well, and now we're offering a conference discount to Informed listeners.Use INFORMED to get 20% off an in-person ticket to UpLift Live 26. That offer is valid until 11.55pm UK time on Saturday 17 January, and then it's a 10% discount after that.Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/joinSupport the show: Informed is not sponsored, so all production and hosting is self-funded. To make a small donation, go to jesp.me/informed-tip – thanks!

What's in your LinkedIn Year in Review? This is LinkedIn's version of Spotify Wrapped.PostbagShould a CTA be included in the headline? Caryn YuenIf the CTA is very short and part of a reasonably short overall headline, then that’s OK. Headlines that are too long won’t be read by humans, and if the intention of the text isn’t clear to the AI-powered LinkedIn search, that could do you harm.How to share achievementsFamey LockwoodLinkedIn has a new template for an individual to announce an achievement – degree, certification, award, etc. While the post is flashy and eye-catching, the question that I have and don’t understand is where does an individual show the actual document for the achievement? If the document is posted as a comment, the document isn’t always viewed in the feed. In addition, a person can say they have an achievement without actually having the evidence. (I have seen an individual post she had a certification from an organisation that I belong to so I knew the certification did not exist.) So, does LinkedIn want us to say we have an achievement without showing the evidence? There’s too much room for errors.Check out the Add profile section button on your profile, where you can add relevant items that work better than the templated LinkedIn post:Licenses & certificationsProjectsCoursesPublicationsHonors & awardsMy LinkedIn Year in ReviewJoined in 2008 (but I wasn't active until 2017)Active for 344 days (most of us got the same)Top 5% (again, most of us got the same)Peak times 10am–7pm (yawn)1 certificate634 new connections1382 connections "on the move"10K+ profile views1708 searches completedMost used Premium feature: InMail (no way)192 posts (public posts only – I've done way more private posts)9173 reactions7076 comments3796 new followers3300 comments on others' posts1025 reactions on others' posts (must be more!)18 repostsSupport was my most used reaction after likesI was a "Catalyst" (I've heard of a couple of people with "Amplifier")Gus Bhandal was the person I kept up with mostMake sure you back up your LinkedIn data from time to time. See Mic Adam's analysis of how he uses his data with AI: part 1 and part 2.Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/joinSupport the show: Informed is not sponsored, so all production and hosting is self-funded. To make a small donation, go to jesp.me/informed-tip – thanks!

This week's main topic looks at how many active accounts there are on LinkedIn. See my LinkedIn membership tracker, particularly the updated section titled "How many active users are on LinkedIn?"Postbag– What do you think of people customising their pronouns?In short, don't do it!– There are quite a few LinkedIn experts who seem to attach an image to every single one of their posts. Do text-only posts perform less well than posts with images?Looking at my own data since the start of 2024, my text-only posts get 27% more impressions than my posts where I include an image.Other topicsLynnaire Johnston's livestream with Mark Williams (creator and former host of this show) at 8pm on Wednesday 10 December 2025: "LinkedIn, Legacy and Letting Go".UpLift Live 26 LaunchPad calls for those attending or considering attending our conference on LinkedIn best practice:Thursday 8 January 2026 at 11am UK (public)Friday 20 March 2026 at 1pm UKI'm speaking in Milan, Italy at Inspire Day, on 29/30 January 2026.Congratulations to Gus Bhandal on the launch of his The Squeeze membership!Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/joinSupport the show: Informed is not sponsored, so all production and hosting is self-funded. To make a small donation, go to jesp.me/informed-tip – thanks!

Thanks to Mark Williams for his kind farewell newsletter.PostbagProfile verification: to verify or not? (see more)Post timing: when is best to post?Recommendations: should they be up to date?Other topicsEveryone is talking about algorithmic bias against women. I’m going to investigate.A couple of text-plus-image posts:Changing the skin tone in emojis“Quiet Piggy”Starting a post with a short bit of quoted text often seems to get me good engagement, as per the second example.Why put a date and time stamp on posts? I wish LinkedIn would do something about this.About the showThis feels a bit meta but here are some things related to the development and marketing of the podcast:There’s a new page at espirian.co.uk/informedThere’s a new banner image as part of my rotating Premium bannerI’ve invited 250 people (the monthly limit) to follow the company pageThere were ~1000 downloads for episodes 466 & 467 – thanks!Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/joinSupport the show: Informed is not sponsored, so all production and hosting is self-funded. To make a small donation, go to jesp.me/informed-tip – thanks!

This is the new-look Informed podcast, all about LinkedIn best practice, hosted for the first time by John Espirian.There’s a quick backstory of the handover from the show’s creator, Mark Williams, to John, and then on to listener questions in the Postbag.Postbag questionsCan you deactivate a company page without closing your personal profile?Can you talk about visibility being down on LinkedIn?Should we invest time in making newsletters, livestreams and videos on LinkedIn?How are comment impressions gauged and are they a useful metric?Is post boosting a good idea?Generative AI data training: how to turn it off if you don’t want to give your data to LinkedIn for free.Microsoft’s 2026 Q1 results are out, with some nuggets about LinkedIn growth.LinksGrowth stalling post 1Growth stalling post 2LinkedIn membership growth trackerRyan Roslansky on LinkedIn’s resultsBook a consultation with JohnEspresso+ communitySolo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/joinSupport the show: Informed is not sponsored, so all production and hosting is self-funded. To make a small donation, go to jesp.me/informed-tip – thanks!