LinkedIn will change a feature that uses its members' names and photos in advertisements
LinkedIn will make changes to a "social advertising" feature that sparked criticism for using members' names and photographs in advertisements on its website.
After a day of mounting criticism, the social networking service said in a blog post Thursday that it had been "listening" to its users and "could have communicated" its intentions with the new ad feature more clearly. As a result, it said, it will change how the advertisements appear.
If a LinkedIn user "follows" a company or service on LinkedIn, the ad feature can display the user's name and photo in advertisements for that company. LinkedIn said its goal was to deliver more useful ads, but some LinkedIn users complained it was a privacy violation, particularly because they have to opt out of the feature rather than opt in.
In the changes announced Thursday, it appears that users will still need to opt out of the social ads feature, but LinkedIn has made it so people's names and photographs no longer appear. Instead, there is a link in the advertisements that says, for example, "Three people in your network" follow company X.
It's difficult to tell from the blog post what happens when members click on the link, but presumably it shows which people in their network follow the company. LinkedIn didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.
LinkedIn started to roll out the new feature in June, but it attracted little attention until this week. On Thursday, the Dutch publication WebWereld reported that the feature might violate Europe's tough data privacy laws.
LinkedIn stopped short of apologizing for the way social ads works. In a blog post titled "Privacy, Advertising, and Putting Members First," LinkedIn said it had been "gathering feedback" from its users and that it wanted to "clarify a few things."
It noted that it published two blog posts and a banner ad in June informing users the feature was being rolled out. It said it never shares personal information with third-party advertisers.
"Most importantly, what we've learned now, is that, even though our members are happy to have their actions, such as recommendations, be viewable by their network as a public action, some of those same members may not be comfortable with the use of their names and photos associated with those actions used in ads served to their network," says the blog post, attributed to Director of Product Management Ryan Roslansky.
"So, we will be changing how these types of social ads look," it said, providing "before" and "after" pictures of a sample advertisement. It didn't say when the changes would be made.
The ROI Guy website posted instructions on how to opt out of the social ad system for users who want to.
(WebWereld is an affiliate of IDG News Service.)
James Niccolai covers data centers and general technology news for IDG News Service. Follow James on Twitter at @jniccolai. James's e-mail address is james_niccolai@idg.com
LinkedIn will make changes to a "social advertising" feature that sparked criticism for using members' names and photographs in advertisements on its website.
After a day of mounting criticism, the social networking service said in a blog post Thursday that it had been "listening" to its users and "could have communicated" its intentions with the new ad feature more clearly. As a result, it said, it will change how the advertisements appear.
If a LinkedIn user "follows" a company or service on LinkedIn, the ad feature can display the user's name and photo in advertisements for that company. LinkedIn said its goal was to deliver more useful ads, but some LinkedIn users complained it was a privacy violation, particularly because they have to opt out of the feature rather than opt in.
In the changes announced Thursday, it appears that users will still need to opt out of the social ads feature, but LinkedIn has made it so people's names and photographs no longer appear. Instead, there is a link in the advertisements that says, for example, "Three people in your network" follow company X.
It's difficult to tell from the blog post what happens when members click on the link, but presumably it shows which people in their network follow the company. LinkedIn didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.
LinkedIn started to roll out the new feature in June, but it attracted little attention until this week. On Thursday, the Dutch publication WebWereld reported that the feature might violate Europe's tough data privacy laws.
LinkedIn stopped short of apologizing for the way social ads works. In a blog post titled "Privacy, Advertising, and Putting Members First," LinkedIn said it had been "gathering feedback" from its users and that it wanted to "clarify a few things."
It noted that it published two blog posts and a banner ad in June informing users the feature was being rolled out. It said it never shares personal information with third-party advertisers.
"Most importantly, what we've learned now, is that, even though our members are happy to have their actions, such as recommendations, be viewable by their network as a public action, some of those same members may not be comfortable with the use of their names and photos associated with those actions used in ads served to their network," says the blog post, attributed to Director of Product Management Ryan Roslansky.
"So, we will be changing how these types of social ads look," it said, providing "before" and "after" pictures of a sample advertisement. It didn't say when the changes would be made.
The ROI Guy website posted instructions on how to opt out of the social ad system for users who want to.
(WebWereld is an affiliate of IDG News Service.)
James Niccolai covers data centers and general technology news for IDG News Service. Follow James on Twitter at @jniccolai. James's e-mail address is james_niccolai@idg.com
10 comments
Click here for commentsNice post. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.
ReplyI'm adding your blog's rss feed so that I can see your new posts. Keep up the great work!
ReplyVery informative post. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.
ReplyHi there, please tell us when we will see a follow up.
ReplyI just needed to say this is an amazing weblog, thanks for your post!
ReplyI had been looking through some of your content on this internet site and I believe this site is really instructive! Keep installing.
ReplyWonderful goods from you, man. LinkedIn new Advertisements feature | Panhwer Technology World I've understand your stuff previous to and you're just extremely great. I really like what you have acquired here, certainly like what you're saying and the way in which you say it. You make it enjoyable and you still care for to keep it sensible. I can't wait to read much more from you. This is actually a wonderful LinkedIn new Advertisements feature | Panhwer Technology World informations.
ReplyI don't even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was good. Cheers!
ReplyI really enjoyed the blog post. It is always nice when you can not only be informed, but also entertained!
ReplyWondreful explanation of facts available here.
ReplyConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon