Well, it appears that LinkedIn has taken a page from Facebook with respect to privacy.  While surfing around the LinkedIn site building training videos I stumbled across a couple of settings that I hadn't noticed before:  Manage Social Advertising and Manage Partner Advertising.

It wasn't that long ago that I wrote a blog about Facebook settings that allowed your name and photo to be included in 3rd party advertising.  In a follow up blog I discussed how Facebook is tracking the online activity of users who remained logged into Facebook while they were surfing the internet.

It appears that LinkedIn has now ventured down a similar path to Facebook.

In an explanation of the first setting which is labeled Manage Social Advertising, LinkedIn explains that it may "sometimes pair an advertiser's message with social content from LinkedIn's network in order to make the ad more relevant".  So, when LinkedIn members recommend people and services, follow companies or take other relevant actions their name and/or photo may show up in an advertisement shown to LinkedIn members.

As I recall, when I first visited this setting the default setting allowed LinkedIn to use my name and photo in social advertising - something I never would have willingly elected.

The second setting I noticed is labeled Partner Advertising.  In this particular instance LinkedIn works with partner websites to show advertisements to LinkedIn members.  What makes this a privacy concern is that the partner advertisers are given access to information from your LinkedIn profile such as your industry, job function, and seniority level in order to target you with very specific ads.

Of course, some folks appreciate that the advertising actually speaks to them directly.  In that case there's nothing further for you to concern yourself with.  Others, like myself, aren't as appreciative of the "Minority Report"-esque approach to advertising.  In that case you might wish to follow my instructions for deactivating these two LinkedIn features so you can regain your privacy.

To start, you'll need to access your LinkedIn Settings in the upper right corner of the LinkedIn website:

Once you've accessed the settings section in LinkedIn you can select the "Groups, Companies & Applications" tab in the bottom left corner (PLEASE NOTE:  this location just recently changed from the "Account" section as illustrated below).  Within the Groups, Companies & Applications tab you will see two options listed under "Privacy Controls":  Manage Social Advertising and Manage Partner Advertising:

(AGAIN:  A recent change has re-labelled these sections as "Turn on/off data sharing with 3rd party applications" and "Manage settings for LinkedIn plugins on third-party sites")

By clicking on each privacy setting individually you'll have the opportunity to deactivate the settings.  Under Partner Advertising you will remove the check mark beside "LinkedIn may show me ads on its partner websites":

Under Manage Social Advertising you will remove the check mark beside "LinkedIn may use my name, photo in social advertising":

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Geoff Evans (Founder, Social Media Coach)