Tag Archives: Endorsements

How to hide LinkedIn Endorsements on the new LinkedIn profile design

Financial advisers now have two easy ways to hide LinkedIn Endorsements and reduce compliance risks.

Several weeks ago I raised concern over the new LinkedIn profile design, as there appeared to be no way to hide LinkedIn Endorsements from your public profile (see: New LinkedIn profiles raise compliance concerns as there appears to be no way to hide endorsements).

This was especially problematic for my audience of financial advisers, as FINRA and SEC regulations prohibit the use of information that can be construed as a testimonial.

Fortunately, LinkedIn’s new profile design now offers two options to hide endorsements from your public profile. Watch the 2:00 screencast below to see how it’s done.

(click to watch on YouTube)

New LinkedIn profiles raise compliance concerns as there appears to be no way to hide endorsements

LinkedIn rolled out its new Endorsements feature several months ago to all users. Since then, financial advisers have been worried about publicly displaying Endorsements on their profile, since they can be construed as testimonials which are strictly prohibited by FINRA and the SEC.

Fortunately, hiding Endorsements from one’s public profile is a fairly straightforward process (see: How to hide endorsements from your LinkedIn profile)

But now, LinkedIn is slowly rolling out redesigned profile pages worldwide that appears to remove the “Hide Endorsement” functionality.

Watch the screencast below to see a sample of the new profile design rolled out to one adviser’s account and how the “Hide Endorsement” button is missing.

I’ve reached out to LinkedIn for comment and have not yet received a reply. I’ll update this post accordingly.

(click here to watch on YouTube)

How to hide endorsements from your LinkedIn profile

Advisers must hide LinkedIn Endorsements to avoid compliance violations

Update 01/21/2013! LinkedIn is rolling out completely new profile designs to users, changing the way Endorsements are managed. Go read How to hide LinkedIn Endorsements on the new LinkedIn profile design now and watch the screencast reflecting the new changes.

As a financial adviser, you’re well aware that you can’t use client testimonials in any of your marketing materials. SEC and FINRA regulations prohibit the use of client testimonials (see: Adviser Use of LinkedIn May Violate SEC Rules).

LinkedIn’s latest feature called Endorsements, opens up another issue for financial advisers with LinkedIn profiles. Anyone can visit an adviser’s LinkedIn profile and endorse specific skills and expertise. Considering the broad language against client testimonials, allowing such endorsements should be avoided.

So how do you remove or disable Endorsements from showing up on your profile?

In the screencast below, I walk you though two ways you can prevent Endorsements from showing up on your public profile.

Watch the screencast now and hide any public endorsements on your own profile to avoid triggering compliance violations.