LinkedIn Feature Update: How To ‘Mention’ People and Companies in Your Status Updates!

LinkedIn has recently announced in a blog post that they are slowly rolling out a new Mentions feature in an effort to cultivate a more engaging experience. Sound familiar? Of course it does because it is very similar to typing in the @ symbol followed by a name on Facebook and having a drop down of friends to choose from and Twitter’s mention feature by using the @ symbol in a tweet.

Using the Mentions feature is a great way to “…start conversations with your network while also enabling you to respond in real-time when someone begins a conversation with you,” according to the LinkedIn blog post. This is also excellent news for sales people and small business owners who utilize LinkedIn for lead generation. Now you can easily start conversations with 1st degree connections by mentioning them instead of just banking on the possibility they’ll see your status update in their sea of network activity.

If you find that you aren’t able to successfully mention someone in an update, you may not have the capability just yet. LinkedIn is still rolling out this feature to English-speaking members first and then bringing it to all global members in the future with the promise of integrating mentions into other parts of the site beyond status updates and home page comments.

How To “Mention” a Company Name or Person in a Status Update or Comment

1. Go to your homepage share box or click comment on someone else’s update.
2. Type “#” and then begin typing a name in the box. You’ll then see a list of potential people or companies you can mention.
3. Click a name you want from the list and continue typing your message.

Note: LinkedIn members outside your network can also be mentioned if they’ve commented on the same update.

After you select someone from the list and finish your update, that person will receive an email and an update letting him or her know you’ve mentioned them. The name will also be linked to a profile or Company Page from your update.

Who sees my update when I mention a connection or company?

When creating an update, select the audience from the Share with field under the share box. For example, you can share with your connections, all LinkedIn members, or all LinkedIn members and your Twitter account (if you’ve set one up).

• Updates containing mentions will be shared just like any other update.
• The member mentioned will receive a notification on linkedin.com and by email.
• The update may be shared with the network of the person being mentioned.

How Do I Remove A Mention?

A mention of your name can be removed by moving your cursor over your name in the update, and then clicking remove. This will remove the link to your profile page and no additional notifications will be received for this update. The person who mentioned you won’t be notified.

How Do I Unsubscribe from Emails About Mentions?