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Informed: the podcast for LinkedIn® users

John Espirian

"Informed" is for you if you'd like to understand more about how LinkedIn works so that you can be an effective user of the platform.

It's hard to know whom to believe with so many self-appointed gurus out there telling you the latest hacks for going viral and earning 7-figure deals. And even LinkedIn's own publications often don't speak to the reality of using the platform.

But for those who see past superficial promises and sanitised reports, this podcast provides evidence and thoughtful opinion. With a track record of more than 10 years of sensible, no-nonsense advice about honest best practice for LinkedIn, Informed is a trusted source of insight by many thousands of regular listeners.

The show was created by Mark Williams, who's affectionately known as "Mr LinkedIn". Mark retired in late 2025 and handed over the reins of the show to John Espirian, the relentlessly helpful® LinkedIn nerd. John is a LinkedIn trainer and consultant, the founder of the Espresso+ community, the creator of the UpLift Live conference (the UK's original event dedicated to LinkedIn best practice), and the author of the personal branding handbook Content DNA.

John's reputation is for getting to the point and for not being a salesy douche canoe, so you can expect short, sharp episodes with zero ads or sponsored slots. This also is NOT an interview show, so if you've read this far then please don't pitch yourself for a guest appearance. However, you're welcome to get in touch if you have a LinkedIn question you'd like John to cover on the show. (To do that, search for the "Informed podcast" company page on LinkedIn and send a message.)

This podcast is not affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by the LinkedIn® corporation. John Espirian is an independent trainer and does not work for LinkedIn® – while it would be great to have LinkedIn's endorsement, the show's independence from the corporation means you, the listener, are never fed an airbrushed political spiel.

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  • 20 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 13 min
  • English

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  • #502
    Yesterday · 15 min

    502. How many active users does LinkedIn have?

    Postbag questions and contributions from Hanne Møller, Mary Wu, Gillian Whitney, Mic Adam, and Mari-Liis Garcia. Private connection notes are here for Premium members. How many active users are there on LinkedIn? Don't forget to grab your ticket for UpLift Live Nano Bristol on 17 September 2026 at https://jesp.me/nanobristol Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
  • #501
    August 29 · 14 min

    501. Profile top card basics

    A look at some of the basics of your LinkedIn profile's top card. Plus, voice note contributions from Lynnaire Johnston and Mark Lee. Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
  • #500
    August 22 · 24 min

    500. The anniversary bumper Postbag

    A special version of the Informed podcast as it reaches its 500th episode, with voice note contributions from several listeners. Plus, a reminder to join us in Bristol for UpLift Live Nano on 17 September 2026. Your chance to ask your LinkedIn questions in person and even have your profile reviewed – and we even throw in a delicious buffet lunch at our fab venue on the Bristol waterfront. Get tickets: https://jesp.me/nanobristol Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
  • #499
    August 15 · 9 min

    499. Is SSI going away?

    Brenda Meller voice note about the new "Seems like AI slop" feature Is Social Selling Index (SSI) going away for free users? My first collaborative post, with Lynnaire Johnston Come to UpLift Live Nano Bristol! It's on Thursday 17 September at The Watershed. Tickets: https://jesp.me/nanobristol New book: Mic Drop: The Human Side of LinkedIn, by Mic Adam "Eyes hurt" is trending on Google … Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
  • #498
    August 1 · 13 min

    498. "Seems like AI slop"

    Postbag Mark Lee and Jeremy Freeman sent voice notes about where to get official LinkedIn info and change logs. "Seems like AI slop" is a new feature on LinkedIn posts viewed in the main feed. Update on collaborative posts Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
  • #497
    July 10 · 10 min

    497. Collaborative posts

    Voice note from Gillian Whitney on out-of-network content viewers Voice note from Mary Wu on profile URLs, plus some feedback on limiting posts Get your ticket to UpLift Live Nano Bristol for Thursday 17 September Collaborative posts Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
  • #496
    July 3 · 11 min

    496. Post visibility

    Postbag Nigel Cliffe voice note on limiting your post visibility Ashley Leeds voice note on automation tools Lionel Guerraz on connecting with your company's CEO Caryn Yuen on link display in comments To see what proportion of your network is seeing your posts, go to the Content performance panel in your profile analytics. I've reached about a quarter of a million people in the past year, but only 38% of them are 1st connections or followers. WhatsApp usernames are now available to reserve Open the app, go to Settings | Account | Username to reserve yours. Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
  • #495
    June 20 · 9 min

    495. Creator Marketplace and company page collaborations

    Postbag Lionel Guerraz voice note about content reach Come to UpLift Live Nano Bristol on 17 September 2026 – a chance to ask your LinkedIn questions direct to me and get yourself a live LinkedIn profile review! Creator Marketplace and company page collaborations Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
  • #494
    June 11 · 8 min

    494. GIFs and games

    Voice notes with feedback from Nigel Cliffe and Meena McDonald Native GIF support in LinkedIn comments Wend game Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
  • #493
    June 6 · 12 min

    493. Who is looking at your content?

    Discovery analytics for in and out of network viewers Should you comment on content where you don't expect to reply? Why you shouldn't delete AI comments on your posts Why you shouldn't use "comment X to get Y" Video tab arrives on mobile Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
  • #492
    May 30 · 15 min

    492. More about AI, plus the Video tab returns

    More chat about AI on LinkedIn, plus the return of a feature in the mobile app. Postbag Trevor Lambert about AI Ross Thorpe about AI – check out Rooverse Ashley Leeds about profile URLs Trudy Pannekeet about group DMs ——— Video tab returns to UK, Australia & Canada Connect button on mobile prompts for a note Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
  • #491
    May 23 · 12 min

    491. AI slop and glitches on LinkedIn

    Postbag Judi Radice Hays: feedback on birthdays Jeremy Freeman: LinkedIn newsletters Kathie York: Since LinkedIn likes to see engagement within the first hour of a post, is it still bad form to be the first commenter? One reason I ask: having a link in a post hurts our 'reach.' What are the rules, now, for placing the link in a comment we create? And what happens to that comment if someone reposts our post? ——— 875 LinkedIn employees (5% of workforce) sacked! Is AI slop really going away? We need a "report as AI" feature! "Nonconsensual intimate imagery" warnings. How to find the date and time of any post or comment on LinkedIn: see my free tool at jesp.me/date Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
  • #490
    May 12 · 14 min

    490. Should you change your posting schedule and topics on LinkedIn?

    What happens when you need to change your plans? Postbag Lionel Guerraz: commenting and its effects on topic authority. Judith Rafferty: how do we deal with birthdays on LinkedIn? ——— The main topic is about changing your schedule on LinkedIn and whether it's OK to post about different topics. About statement previews are now 6 lines long on mobile. Desktop previews are still 4 lines long. UpLift Live Nano Bristol: our conference's little brother event is on Thursday 17 September 2026 at The Watershed in Bristol. Come to learn about LinkedIn and network. You get lunch, and if you're brave I'll review your LinkedIn profile in front of the room. Use code EARLY10 for a £10 discount until the end of May. Standard price is £59. I'm off to Creator Day in Poole this week. See you there? Off-topic food post Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
  • #489
    May 2 · 18 min

    489. LinkedIn member stats via Microsoft

    New membership figures for LinkedIn are out. Let's take a look at the stats for this quarter. Postbag Richard G Abrahams on post impressions. Steve Messenger on comments being turned off on every post. Lynnaire Johnston on verification concerns. ——— LinkedIn member results via Microsoft. I signed up for Premium All-in-One. Comments reduced from 1250 to 1000 characters. Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
  • #488
    April 25 · 15 min

    488. Reporting users on LinkedIn

    How do you report someone and what happens when LinkedIn ignores your feedback? See Melanie Goodman’s post ——— LinkedIn has a new CEO: Daniel Shapero Content DNA is 6 years old – read sample chapters Espresso+ members now get the full 32-chapter audiobook for free. What comment features do you want? Crosscheck AI feature Your LinkedIn headline matters Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
  • #487
    April 18 · 10 min

    487. Current jobs market stats

    Postbag Mary Wu voice note about the use of someone else's account. ––– Grad's Guide 2026 – some stats around the current jobs market. Main report UK version US version Creative Collision at LinkedIn HQ on 28 April There is no 360Brew anymore? AI People search reaches all of the US Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
  • #486
    April 11 · 13 min

    486. Collaborative content

    Postbag Voice 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 collaborations Differences between desktop and mobile versions of LinkedIn Customise your profile username Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
  • #485
    April 4 · 19 min

    485. Direct messages and algorithmic immunity

    Postbag Should I delete posts on LinkedIn? Richard G Abrahams: Should I write a newsletter? Mark Lee: Can I target my posts to certain locations? Clip from my UpLift Live 26 talk on "direct messages and algorithmic immunity". I put in around 12 hours of editing time to get the replays ready, and we have about 17.5 hours of content in total now available over the past 3 years of the conference. Get your replay ticket Social Insider report on document post engagement rates Look out for messages saying "Email not reachable" and "Update your email to ensure you don't lose access to your account" – they're legitimate messages but seem to be associated only with LinkedIn accounts that have Gmail email addresses. Hopefully, this is a temporary issue only. Ryan Roslansky's book: Open To Work released Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
  • #484
    March 30 · 12 min

    484. UpLift Live 26 conference

    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 Espirian Tony Restell Nicole Osborne Mic Adam Guy Strijbosch Heather Murray Phill Agnew Dave Harland Brenda Meller No 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/replay Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
  • #483
    March 21 · 16 min

    483. Is LinkedIn a social media platform?

    A quick look at a document that explains why LinkedIn should be considered a social media platform just like all of the other big players. Postbag Teresa Ward: should we use @mentions in comments? Lionel Guerraz: on saving money with tech tools ——— Don't use the vertical pipe | symbol in your headline Is LinkedIn social media? UpLift Live 26 is almost here. Still time to get your ticket at uplift-live.com Solo and small business owners: join the Espresso+ community to improve your LinkedIn and online presence. Find out more at jesp.me/join Support 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!

    • Transcript
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