LinkedIn, the professional networking platform once designed strictly for career development and employment opportunities, is increasingly being used as a tool for romantic vetting and informal dating intelligence, according to a report by Business Insider.
While LinkedIn’s primary purpose remains professional networking, users are turning to it to check up on potential partners, past relationships, and emotional histories, blurring the lines between personal and professional digital spaces.
“LinkedIn is, in theory, a professional space, focused on work and branding. But it is moving into more intimate territory as the lines between the personal and the professional blur,” Business Insider wrote.
Ogbonda Chivumnovu
LinkedIn: From Résumés to Relationship Vetting
The article highlights a range of anecdotes from LinkedIn users who discovered that profiles and activity on the platform were being viewed by exes, potential partners, and even family members. Some users found these interactions validating; others found them awkward or unsettling.
LinkedIn’s design contributes to this phenomenon. It makes profile views visible by default, unless users subscribe to paid tiers that allow anonymous browsing, creating a dynamic where personal curiosity and professional visibility intersect. Business Insider describes this as a “web of spies and spy-catchers” that users navigate when considering their privacy settings versus professional exposure.
Kevin Grunewald, a 40-year-old recruiter based in Texas, told the publication that he thought his past relationship had ended on relatively amicable terms.But he soon noticed that his ex was checking his LinkedIn profile almost daily.
“It was part of her morning ritual, I guess,” he says.
“I think she blocked me. Which I’m kind of happy about,” he told the website.
Online Dating Is Already Mainstream and Growing
LinkedIn’s role as an informal dating or vetting tool emerges against the backdrop of massive global adoption of dedicated online dating platforms.
According to reports, in the United States, approximately three in ten adults report having used an online dating site or app at some point in their lives. More so, online dating is especially prevalent among younger adults, with roughly 53% of Americans under 30 saying they have ever used a dating platform, compared with significantly lower shares among older age groups. Never-married adults are particularly likely to have used online dating services; about 52% report having done so.
These figures show that online dating is not a niche behaviour but a mainstream social practice, with millions relying on digital platforms to meet romantic partners.
Worldwide, an estimated 366 million people actively use online dating services as of 2024, roughly 4.6% of the global population. This number is projected to grow to over 440 million by 2027.
This global reach underscores how common digital dating has become across cultures and continents.
Why LinkedIn Now Matters in Dating Contexts
The shift toward online dating, reinforced by widespread smartphone use, changing social norms, and the normalisation of digital courtship, means that people increasingly expect to conduct background checks on potential partners. Dating platform profiles give information about interests and preferences; LinkedIn adds career history, education, achievements, and professional networks.
This convergence means platforms like LinkedIn, not originally meant for romance, now serve secondary social functions. People use LinkedIn to confirm employment claims, understand someone’s professional trajectory, assess social and career stability, and see how someone presents themselves publicly outside dating apps.
It further illustrates how this blending of motives can lead to awkward, validating, or stressful interactions when people discover they are being viewed without their knowledge.
Balancing Professional and Personal Visibility
In an interview with Business Insider, Jaime Bronstein, a licensed clinical social worker and relationship therapist, noted that this trend highlights a key tension in modern digital life: while being visible online can boost your professional value, it also makes personal boundaries more exposed and susceptible to scrutiny.
“If you're going to do a reachout, it's just a way to gather some information in an innocent way”, she said.
After all, it can feel a little awkward to be scrolling through your high school crush’s LinkedIn profile with your partner in the next room. And Bronstein notes that if someone has ended things or cut contact, it’s usually best to read between the lines: “No message is a message,” she said.
LinkedIn’s emphasis on openness helps job seekers and creators, yet that same transparency can invite scrutiny in personal contexts. This further explains the pressure to be visible for professional reasons while also wanting to keep personal life private, which creates complex privacy decisions for users.
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