To Tag or Not to Tag...
Sabrina Norris, SHRM-SCP
Champion of Organizational Culture and Employee Engagement | Strategic HR Director | Juris Masters at FSU College of Law 2025
Mentions and tags allow you to notify your connections that you're talking about them in a post, comment, or photo. If you're tagged by another member, you'll receive an email and update on LinkedIn.com notifying you. Your profile will also be linked in the post, comment, or photo.
I like to tag connections I feel might be interested in a particular topic. I don't always tag the same group of people and I try to notice if someone I tag never responds. My hope is the content on LinkedIn finds its way to the right people at the right time.
I decided to explore what happens when I don't add mentions to the comments of my posts. In one of my tests, I shared two posts with similar content almost simultaneously. What happened next was surprising... but not because of the number of views. LinkedIn prompted me to mention people in the post that I intentionally did not tag anyone in. It was a happy accident.
The post without tags received 349 views. Eventually LinkedIn suggested I mention people in the comments to increase performance. The other post, that had mentions in the comments right when posted, received 4,625 views. For me, this is reason enough to continue to mention people in the comments. But I understand there are many reasons why someone does not want to be mentioned.
Recently Reena Friedman Watts and I hopped on a call to get to know each other. The conversation evolved into the unwritten rules of LinkedIn, specifically to tag or not to tag. A few days later, I received a DM from an individual I had tagged in a post informing me she had removed the tag. I didn't even know you could do that! So I reached back out to Reena and she hadn't heard of that either.
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After the tag is removed, the hyperlink disappears so it is very apparent the tag was removed... I had noticed that the hyperlinks disappeared before but didn't understand why it had happened.
In the situation I mentioned above, my connection was very gracious about it and I endorsed some of her skills as an apology. We remain connected and she engages with my content on her own terms. In another instance, I learned we don't tag our friends in the Financial Services industry... there are strict compliance issues around social media.
Regardless of where you stand on the issue, your LinkedIn experience is your LinkedIn experience. Manage your feed the way you want and interact with your connections the way you want. Just be open to adjusting your style to meet someone where they are.
I appreciate the variety of connections in my network and encourage you to talk to me about the good, bad, and the ugly of the content I share! If something I say, do, or comment rubs you the wrong way... send me a DM. I am not always going to agree but I will always consider the other side.
What have you discovered about LinkedIn that surprised you? Share your tips, tricks, and comments below.
Implementation Specialist and Coach helping overwhelmed entrepreneurs design and build scalable businesses.
1 年Sabrina, you share interesting information. Thank you!
Living by the Platinum Rule | Success & Empowerment Mentor | Belonging Champion | BizCatalyst 360 Contributor | Alchemist
2 年Sabrina Permuth, SHRM-SCP I don't mind being tagged, but I can't promise to comment. I will when time allows. I think some people get bothered if they tag you and you don't engage. I never tag anyone with an expectation that they need to comment. We're all busy people and when we can, we do.??
Uncover the Hidden Truth Behind Startup Failures – And Learn How to Avoid Them!
2 年Sabrina Permuth, SHRM-SCP that's interesting. It seems that I have two groups. One is of my friends who regularly like and comment on my posts, helping to promote my ideas. However, I doubt whether they'll ever be my clients. The other group is my potential and existing clients. they never comment or like but they read the post, they follow and when talking to them they mentioned the ideas I raise in my posts. So, thank you my friends for spreading my posts so more of my clients would read them.
I create Built to Thrive? workplaces that 'slay the villain of culture stagnation'.
2 年I may be alone in this, but I believe in #socialnetworking. Not social marketing. I watch human behavior. If I notice that I'm getting tagged a lot by somebody, and they never engage in my posts by liking them or commenting, eventually I will stop engaging with theirs. The same goes for all of the many, many people who send me follow requests.?If I don’t even know them, they have never engaged in my page or supported me. I will be less likely to follow them. If I do follow them and they still never reciprocate eventually I will disconnect with them so that I don't constantly get pinged every time they post something.?For me, #LinkedIn is about quality not quantity.
Bachelor of Commerce - BCom from Nizam College at Hyderabad Public School
2 年????