LinkedIn and User Privacy

Perhaps you were among the 100 million users who got automatically opted into LinkedIn's ad network, or perhaps you read about it through some social media site. Not terribly interested in having your demographics used within ad targeting? Here's how to opt-out:

1. Click on your name on your LinkedIn homepage (upper right corner). On the drop-down menu, select "Settings"
2. From the “Settings” page, select “Account”
3. In the column next to “Account”, click “Manage Social Advertising”
4. Un-check the box next to “LinkedIn may use my name, photo in social advertising”

You could also turn on/off Enhanced Advertising, Partner InMail, data sharing with 3rd party applications, invitations to participate in research, and LinkedIn announcements.

I'm a bit surprised that LinkedIn didn't have any Home dashboard messaging about the mass opt-in change to user settings. At least users have the ability to opt in and out when they want to. Options are always good. We make better decisions when presented with many options instead of few or none.