Your network is made up of your contacts and their contacts.
Level 1: Your contacts
Level 2: Your contacts' contacts
Level 3: The contacts of your level 2 contacts
Level 4 and up: Your extended network
You can only use the 'Get introduced' feature with Viadeo members up to 4 degrees from you. However, you can contact other members directly by using 'Send a message' or 'Add to contacts' at all levels.

Contacts are members who make up your level 1 network.
Your contacts are the network of connections that you have established or found on Viadeo.

You share a special status with your contacts:

You can take advantage of your respective networks with the 'Get introduced' feature.

Your contacts can endorse your profile by offering a reference for a position you have held.

They are informed automatically on their dashboards of your Viadeo activity (your news feed), and vice-versa. Go to 'News Settings' to choose what type of activity you would like to share.

If your contacts allow it, you can comment on their news on your dashboard and their profile, and they can comment on your news. Only your contacts can see comments posted about your news.

You can easily forward things you post or find interesting (profiles, job ads, ads, events, questions, invitations to a Forum or community, etc.) to others who are both members and non-members of Viadeo.

Based on the information you provide in your profile (classmates, former and current colleagues, family members, etc.), we will suggest other Viadeo members you may know (see the ‘people you may know’ link at the very top of your screen).
This list is updated periodically, so check it regularly.
If the list is empty, please complete your profile to find contacts you may know.

To invite people to join Viadeo, use the 'Invite Contacts' link at the top of the page next to your name or go to 'Find People I Know' .
Here you can import your address book (webmail, Outlook, contact list) or manually search for individual email addresses.
This will enable you to either find out which of your contacts are already on Viadeo or to invite new members to your network.

The 'Get introduced' function allows you to connect with members of your extended network through a mutual contact.
For the best results, give the mutual contact a description of your request, such as a partnership opportunity, business proposition, application, etc. Then you can ask your mutual contact to forward on this information on your behalf. This will lend your connection request additional credibility and prominence.

Clicking 'Add to Contacts' will allow you to invite other members of Viadeo to join your primary network (see question above 'What is a Contact?')
If you do not know the member and you have never communicated with them on Viadeo, it can be useful to click 'Send a message' and introduce yourself and your request before sending the direct Connection Request itself.
To prevent you being spammed, Viadeo limits the number of Connection Requests members may have pending at any given time.
To send more connection requests, you may purchase a Connection Requests Packs in addition to your existing membership.
To view the balance of your Pack at any time, just visit the Membership page.

To send a message to multiple contacts:

Click 'Contacts' on the menu on the left side of your dashboard

Click 'Send a message' next to one of the contacts you would like to write to

Click 'Add recipient'

Begin typing the name of the member you want to add

Choose from the list that appears

Click 'Add recipient' again to select additional members

Complete and send your message

You can also use the 'Send a message' feature at the top of the page when you are logged in. Enter the first few letters of a member's name and a list will appear. Select the contact you want to write to and then 'Add recipient' to select additional members.
To remove recipients, click on the X next to their name.
NB: To protect you from Spammers, messages may only be sent to 10 members at a time

Your Viadeo profile is right at the heart of your online networking experience. It's how people can be sure they've found the right person when they search for you.
Use it to describe yourself, your business, what you have to offer, your skills, positions you have held, and more.
A detailed profile will help you get the most out of Viadeo. Not only does it help other contacts find you, it also lends credibility to your activity on the site. The more you say about yourself, the more opportunities you will have on Viadeo. In addition, a detailed profile ensures you can be quickly and easily found, identified and contacted.

All your Viadeo contacts and Premium members can view your complete profile.
You also have the option of displaying a limited public profile visible to non-members (see “Where is the link to my public profile” and “How do I prevent my profile from being indexed by search engines like Google?”). To give you control over your profile visibility, you can choose to add restrictions to the amount of information displayed by going to 'Preferences' at the top right of the page when you are logged in and selecting “News Settings”.

Your last name: Choose to only display your last name to your contacts by going to 'Preferences'.
NB: that this may make it difficult for members to search for you by name.

Your contacts: Choose who can view your contacts; all members, just your contacts, or no one.

News settings: Choose which news is posted about you on the news feed (e.g. posting events, joining a Forum, viewing articles, visiting blogs, new contacts).

When commenting on items in the news feed:

Only your contacts can comment on your news and only your contacts can see these comments.

You may choose to hide a comment at any time by clicking 'Make this comment private' (mouse over the comment to see this option).

Only you can see private comments (marked by a padlock).

You may choose to hide all comments made by a particular contact by clicking 'Make all member's comments private' next to one of the member's comments.

If you do not want to allow your contacts to comment on your news, go to Preferences > News Settings.

You can delete your comment at any time by clicking the cross to the top left of your comment

To change the Overview on your profile:

Click the 'Profile' tab on your dashboard.

Click 'Edit Summary'

Edit your Overview in the box labelled 'Introduce Yourself' and save it.

To add/edit your photo:

Click the 'Profile' tab on your dashboard.

Click 'Edit photo'.

Click 'Choose File', browse to and select your photo.

Confirm and upload by clicking 'Add'.

NB:

For the best results use the portrait format (140 x 185 pixels). Viadeo will automatically resize your photo if it is a different size.

The photo must be no larger than 3 MB.

You can use all standard image formats (JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, PNG, etc).

It may take up to 24 hours for your photo to appear on your profile.

On the menu on the left side of your dashboard,
click ”Links to Public Profile”.

If you do not want your profile to be indexed by search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc.), click 'Preferences' at the top right of the page when you are logged in.
At the bottom of the page under 'Confidentiality of personal data', untick the box allowing Viadeo to publish your profile on search engines.
We have no control over search engines' indexing systems so it may take several weeks for your profile to be removed from them.

To delete your profile:

Click 'Preferences' at the top right of the page when you are logged in.

Click 'My Account'.

Click 'Delete my account' at the bottom left of the page.

In the column on the right side of your dashboard click the arrow or 'More' under 'They viewed your profile' to see who viewed your profile.
Alternatively, click the number of visits your profile has received above the menu on the left side of your dashboard.
Only Premium Members can see the complete list of members who viewed their profile.
To browse Viadeo anonymously, untick the box 'Yes, I would like to know who viewed my profile' at the bottom of the list of members who viewed your profile. When this box is unticked, you will not be able to see who has viewed your profile and, equally, other members will not know if you have viewed their profile.

Keywords are vital in ensuring that your profile can be found using the Viadeo search engine. They will help new members find you and help you find new professional opportunities and connections on the site. To edit or add new keywords to your profile:

Click the 'Profile' tab on your dashboard.

Click 'Edit Summary'.

Go to 'Keywords' and complete the field with words associated with your skills, professional experience and expertise.

Click 'Save' at the bottom of the page.

To request a reference from a contact:

Click the 'Profile' tab on your dashboard.

Click the 'References' tab and then 'Select Contacts' next to a position.

Select the contact(s) you want to ask and click ‘Write a Request’

Write your request and click 'Send'.

You will be notified when a contact writes a reference for you.
To display this reference on your profile:

Click the 'Profile' tab on your dashboard.

Click the 'References' tab.

Click 'Show' next to a reference.

Click 'Save' if you accept this reference.

You can show or delete references at any time under Profile > References > My References

To add a link to a website to your profile:

Click the 'Profile' tab on your dashboard.

Click 'Edit Summary'.

Include relevant URLs under ‘Introduce Yourself’.

Ensure you have included the URL in full (e.g. www.viadeo.com), then click 'Submit'.

You can also add a link to each entry in your professional experience.
For the link to appear in 'My Profile / My Links', at least one person other than you must click on it from your profile. To display a link to your blog on your profile, go to Profile > Blog.

To add the Viadeo widget to your blog:

Click the 'Profile' tab on your dashboard.

Click 'Blogs' and then 'Change'.

Click 'Personalise'

Edit the variables.

Click 'Save Widget' to view the widget code which you can then add to your blog

Absolutely. When you import your address book from Outlook/Wemail or other sources you remain completely in control of invites or messages that are sent to the contacts you have imported.
This information remains confidential and will not be shared with third parties.

By default, all Viadeo Premium members can message each other, whether they are connected or not. You can request to connect with anyone on the site, whether you have Premium membership or not.
However, if you wish you can limit your contact availability (see “Can I prevent people from contacting me?”).
Even without Premium membership, you can communicate with all Viadeo members by asking/answering questions under the ‘Expert’ tab, taking part in or starting your own Forum, sharing links on the site by posting links under the ‘News’ tab and joining Communities to share messages, events, ads and more with other members of the Viadeo network.

You can limit your contact availability by going to 'Preferences' at the top right of the page.
Here, you can:

Choose who you receive messages from (any member/your contacts only/your level 2 network).

Decline to receive Connection Requests by unticking 'I accept Connection Requests'.

Choose not to allow recruiters to send you jobs by unticking ‘Yes, recruiters can send me jobs’.

You can use search 360 or the advanced search machine under the ‘Members’ tab. Search 360 will give you more information about the members you are searching for (e.g. questions they have asked or blogs they write) but please ensure you spell the name you are searching for correctly. The advanced search allows you to search for members according to key words, companies as well as by name. If you are searching for a specific person and you’re unsure of how their name is spelt, it is best to use the advanced search option.

Please view the corresponding help file: Import from Outlook .
NB: This feature is currently only available for Internet Explorer.

To delete a member from your contacts:

Click 'Contacts' in the menu to the left of your dashboard.

Click 'Delete' next to the contact you wish to remove.

You can register up to 2 email addresses to your Viadeo account. To add a second address, go to Preferences > Email and Password and then add another address in the box provided.
Once you have validated the new address, by clicking the activation link in the activation email we will send you, you will be able to log in using this address as well.
Registering two active email addresses to your Viadeo account will help other members on the site to search for and connect with you in the future.

Go to Preferences > Email and Password.
Add another email address and confirm by clicking on the link in the activation email we send to the new email address.
Then return to the Email and Password preferences and click 'Make primary address' next to the new email address.

You can choose to keep your old email address as well and use either to log in, however,
Viadeo will only send email to your primary address.

Go to www.viadeo.com.
Click 'Forgot password?' and enter the email address you used to sign up. You will receive instructions on how to reset your password. If you do not receive the email immediately, please check your junk mail folder or wait a few moments for the email to come through.

To change your password:

Click 'Preferences' at the top right corner of your screen (when you are logged in).

Click ‘My Account’ then 'Email and Password'.

Under 'Password' enter your 'Old password' and then 'New password' (4 to 20 characters).

NB: Don’t use special characters in your password.

Re-enter the password.

Click 'Save'.

Basic registration and membership of Viadeo is free. However, to make the most of the networking opportunities available on the site, you can subscribe to Premium Membership.
To subscribe or learn more, go to Premium Membership .

To manage your invoices, click 'Premium Member' at the top left of the page when you log in.
Click 'Order History' to create, view, and print invoices.

For payment by check, invoices will be sent by mail 2 to 3 weeks after the order is processed.

Payment is made all at once. Monthly prices are shown for your information only.

To change your billing information, you must first deactivate automatic renewal for your account and then subscribe again as you did the first time, but enter your new billing information.

To deactivate automatic renewal go to Premium Member > Your Membership Status. You will need to cancel automatic renewal and enter your password again to confirm.
Click 'Suspend' at the bottom of the page and follow the instructions.
If you have subscribed via Paypal, you also need to also cancel the automatic renewal in your Paypal account itself.
IMPORTANT: If the ‘Your Membership Status’ link does not appear between 'Membership + Pack' and 'Extend Membership', it means automatic renewal has already been deactivated for your Premium Membership.

To create a Forum:

Click the 'Groups' tab.

Click 'Manage Your Forums'

Click 'Create a Forum'

Complete the form.

Click 'Submit'

To leave a Forum:

Click the 'Groups' tab.

Click 'Leave' to the right of the Forum you would like to leave.

Forums cannot be deleted on Viadeo, but you can make it invisible:

Click the 'Groups' tab.

Click 'Manage your Forums'.

Remove all members from your Forum.

Make your Forum private.

Activate controlled membership.

If you would like to delete a Forum you manage due to lack of time, please consider asking another member to manage it.

There are several reasons your account may have been deactivated, including:

If you have violated the terms of use (e.g. posting jobs in Forums or sending bulk messages to other members).

If other Viadeo members have submitted complaints about your behaviour on the site.

If you have been accused of spamming other members or posting spam / multi-level marketing messages in public areas on the site.

If you have repeatedly sent connection requests to other members that have declined your connection requests.

These are preventive measures to preserve Viadeo's quality and code of ethics.
If your account has been deactivated, please contact member support for further information about how you can restore access to your profile.

To post a job ad, you will need to create a Recruiter account.

Click the 'Jobs & MBAs’ tab.

Click 'Post a job ad'.

Click 'Open a Recruiter Account'.

Complete the form provided.

To change the frequency of your email notifications you receive from Viadeo:

Click 'Preferences' at the top right corner after you log in.

Click 'Email Notifications'.

You can then deactivate or edit the frequency your notifications are sent.

Are you looking for property, an investor, or are you offering goods or services?
Post an ad by clicking the 'Ads' tab and then 'Post an Ad' in the category of your choice and then click 'Post Ad'.

Your ad will immediately appear in the list of current ads.

It will be automatically distributed through news feeds on your contacts' dashboards (if you have allowed this in your preferences).

Members can then respond to or forward your ad to their own network.

NB: Only Premium Members can post ads in this section.
If you are recruiting, go to the Recruiters Tools under 'Jobs & MBAs' to post your job ads.

Viadeo works with Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 3, Safari 4, and Chrome. If you have trouble using Viadeo with earlier versions of Internet Explorer, please try upgrading or using an alternative browser.
Use of the Outlook address book import feature is restricted to Internet Explorer (Import Contacts > Import Contacts from: Outlook).