If you are a LinkedIn user you received an email this week congratulating you for being in the top 10, 5, 2 or even 1% of all profiles viewed by others in 2012.  It was of course a marketing ploy to get you to upgrade to a paid membership.  It caused me to ask myself a question: is there value in knowing more about my secret and not so secret admirers?

Based on 200 million users, being in a top bracket still means you have a lot of company. The top 1% means top 2 million, top 2% = top 4 million and so on.  Suddenly you realize this is not necessarily an accomplishment worthy of sharing on your Facebook page and your Twitter feed as they suggest.  But let’s look at it another way and apply the 80/20 rule to the usage patterns of LinkedIn members.  80% probably can’t remember their login information.   If they can’t login they can’t view my profile.  That’s fine; they weren’t going to do anything for my career anyway.  So those of us in the remaining 20% might indeed be valuable individual brands after all.

Just how valuable is the top 20%?  Forbes magazine reports that a senior executive’s number one reason to login is to network with peers and coworkers.    Forbes also reports that entry level employees primarily use LinkedIn for job searches and introductions.  So if you are the entry level employee you are probably excited about the prospect of connecting with senior executives for the purpose of job hunting.   Before you start peeking around you may want to visit the profile settings on your account first.   If you plan on visiting the CEO’s page repeated times you may want to make your profile anonymous.  Or if you want to drop some bread crumbs in the hope they are curious you can leave some characteristics open such as industry or your title.  If you go completely stealth just don’t forget to readjust the setting once your LinkedIn sleuthing session is over.

This week’s email generated enough curiosity for me to visit my own page and see who has been viewing my profile.  Pretty random, there was someone from the University of Delaware, but because I haven’t upgraded my account it gave 10 possible people.  It felt like a game of sorts but not one I was interested in playing. There was also an entrepreneur from New York, hmmm that’s some bread crumb.  Then right at the bottom they deliver the pitch.  “Upgrade your account to see the full list of those who have viewed your profile.” I’ll pass, however this new awareness caused me to see if my own profile is even properly dressed.

Jobvite put together a couple of hints that you’ll want to adhere to for when an interested party comes along.  Do add professional organizations to your profile.  Don’t misspell or use bad grammar. Do volunteer work and discuss your personal involvement and relation to your career goals. Don’t join groups better left for Facebook or Twitter.   Example:  don’t discuss your association with the Johnny Walker Scotch group unless you work for Diageo.  And if you must join it then spell it correctly; it is Johnnie Walker.  I guess you could say common sense prevails.

If sending this email becomes the catalyst for freshening up our profiles then LinkedIn’s marketing had some unintended positive impact that we all can benefit from.