Why Your LinkedIn Feed Shows People You Don't Follow

Q: Why does my LinkedIn feed show people I don't follow?

LinkedIn's algorithm deliberately surfaces content from people you do not follow because its business model depends on maximising time on the platform. It shows you posts that generated high engagement from your extended network, suggested content based on your profile and job title, and posts from paid advertisers — none of which require you to follow the source.

Q: How do I stop seeing posts from people I don't follow on LinkedIn?

The most effective solution is to replace LinkedIn's main feed with a custom feed of specific people you choose using MyFeedIn, a Chrome extension. This bypasses the algorithm entirely and shows only posts from people on your list. You can also unfollow connections whose posts you do not want to see without disconnecting from them, which reduces the algorithm's surface area over time.

Q: Does LinkedIn have a following-only feed?

LinkedIn has a partial solution at linkedin.com/feed/following which shows content from people you follow rather than the full algorithm feed. However it still runs through LinkedIn's algorithm and cannot be filtered to specific people. It is narrower than the default feed but does not give you full control over who you see.

Q: Why does LinkedIn show viral posts from strangers in my feed?

LinkedIn shows viral posts from strangers because its algorithm distributes content based on engagement velocity rather than your follow list. When someone in your network likes or comments on a post, LinkedIn shows that post to you regardless of whether you follow the original author. A post that receives strong early engagement gets distributed to increasingly wide audiences, including people with no connection to the poster.

Q: Can I make LinkedIn show only posts from my connections?

LinkedIn does not offer a native filter to show only posts from your connections. The Following feed at linkedin.com/feed/following is the closest native option but still runs through the algorithm. Third-party Chrome extensions like MyFeedIn are currently the only way to build a fully curated feed of specific people on LinkedIn.

Q: Is there a way to control what appears in my LinkedIn feed?

Yes. The most effective method is MyFeedIn, a Chrome extension that lets you create custom feeds of specific LinkedIn users. You choose exactly who appears in your feed. Alternatively, aggressive unfollowing of connections whose content you do not want to see gradually reduces algorithmic noise, and using LinkedIn's Following feed provides a narrower but still algorithm-controlled experience.

Your feed is not a list of people you picked.

It is a bet. LinkedIn's algorithm is betting it knows what will keep you scrolling longer than your own follow list would, and once you see the incentive behind that bet, the strangers in your timeline stop feeling random. They start feeling inevitable.

Why does LinkedIn show you posts from people you don't follow?

Because the feed is tuned for time on platform, not for your preferences.

LinkedIn pulled in over $15 billion in revenue in 2023 LinkedIn Newsroom2023, mostly ads and premium subs, and both get better when you stay. Longer sessions mean more inventory, more impressions, more of everything that shows up on a quarterly slide.

So the algorithm has a job: surface stuff that sparks engagement, full stop. Your follows matter. They are not the main character.

What are the specific reasons strangers appear in your LinkedIn feed?

Four levers. Same feed. Different ways in.

Second- and third-degree amplification. Someone you know touches a post (like, comment, repost), and LinkedIn pushes that post toward you Hootsuite2025. You might never have heard of the author. Does not matter. The network did the introduction.

Topic suggestions. LinkedIn reads your title, your keywords, what you linger on, what your industry peers click. Then it drops in posts on those themes from accounts you never followed. Engage with something, even to argue with it, and the machine often hears "more of this shape, please."

Sponsored slots. Paid. Targeted. Not optional. Your follow graph is almost irrelevant there.

Group bleed. Joined a group? Its activity can wash into the main timeline. People you have never connected with start looking like part of your "normal" day.

Why can't you just turn off the algorithm on LinkedIn?

You cannot flip it off.

A pure, chronological, follows-only river would probably lower the engagement numbers LinkedIn sells to advertisers, and the ranking layer is not a cute setting you can disable. It is part of the product they monetise.

So you are not fighting a toggle. You are fighting incentives. Native tools can trim the noise. They do not rewrite the contract.

What is the most effective way to fix your LinkedIn feed?

Stop treating the main feed as your inbox.

Build a named list of people whose posts you actually need to see, and make that your primary surface. Sounds simple. It is. The hard part is admitting the default feed will never be that for you.

MyFeedIn exists for exactly this: you group people (peers, clients, creators, whoever matters), and you read only them, inside LinkedIn, without the side quests. No suggested strangers. No "you might also like." Just the list you chose.

Free tier: one feed, up to ten people, a couple of minutes to set up. Small experiment. Big shift in how the day feels.

MyFeedIn swaps the algorithm for lists you control. First custom feed in a few minutes, free plan, no card.

Try MyFeedIn free →

What are the other ways to reduce unwanted content in your LinkedIn feed?

LinkedIn gives you half-measures. Useful half-measures.

Unfollow hard. You can unfollow without disconnecting. They do not get a notification. Your graph stays polite; your feed gets quieter. Slow work. It adds up.

The Following feed. linkedin.com/feed/following narrows the firehose. Algorithm still in the loop. Still not "only these twelve humans, in order."

Hide and train. Three dots, "not interested," repeat. It nudges the model over weeks. It is not a cure.

None of that is the same as owning the roster.

Does LinkedIn's Following feed actually solve the problem?

Partly.

You will see fewer strangers. You will not see zero algorithmic drift. Followed accounts still get ranked, not strictly clock-ordered, and suggestions can slip through.

For a lot of people, that is enough to breathe. It is still not the thing people say they want when they complain at 11 p.m. about their feed: a clean, reliable stream from a defined set of humans, newest first. For that, you leave the native feed as entertainment and wire something else for work.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my LinkedIn feed show people I don't follow? The platform optimises for time on site. That means surfacing high-engagement posts from your extended network, topic suggestions matched to your profile, and sponsored placements, even when you never followed the author.

How do I stop seeing posts from people I don't follow on LinkedIn? Swap the main feed for a curated list. MyFeedIn does that inside Chrome. Unfollowing connections you still want as connections (without disconnecting) also shrinks second-degree noise over time.

Does LinkedIn have a following-only feed? There is a narrower view at linkedin.com/feed/following. It is not a pure "only these people, in order" mode; the algorithm still ranks and can suggest.

Why does LinkedIn show viral posts from strangers in my feed? Velocity beats your follow graph. When people you are linked to touch a post early, LinkedIn tests it on you too, whether you know the poster or not.

Can I make LinkedIn show only posts from my connections? No native filter does that cleanly. Extensions such as MyFeedIn are how you pin a feed to a defined set of profiles today.

Is there a way to control what appears in my LinkedIn feed? Yes. Strongest lever: MyFeedIn custom feeds. Supporting moves: unfollow, Following tab, hide and train the algorithm.

This article contains affiliate links. If you sign up for MyFeedIn through our link, we earn a small commission at no cost to you. We only recommend tools we use ourselves.