LinkedIn Retreats in Privacy Flap

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LinkedIn backed away from an advertising product that used members' photos and recommendations, marking a rare privacy gaffe for the social network.

The professional networking site, which has 120 million profiles, has largely been able to stay out of the spotlight over privacy issues that affected social media sites such as Facebook. In late June, LinkedIn began testing a new form of advertising it called "social ads" that shared users' public actions, like recommendations or following companies, in a commercial format. The ads would show a user the photo of another user in their network of personal connections and indicate that they had recommended a product or company. The company announced the new ads on its blog and also placed a banner ad informing members of the new initiative. It also informed users how to opt out. It took users and bloggers who watch the company a few weeks to take notice, and complaints began surfacing. On August 11, the company retreated, informing members their photos would no longer accompany ads. Instead, ads will state the number of a user's connections who either follow or recommended the product or company.


LinkedIn Retreats in Privacy Flap