Business social network site LinkedIn has backtracked over a recent privacy policy update that saw member details appear alongside third-party adverts.
Back in June the company introduced a new opt-out policy for its social ad that meant adverts contained names and photos of LinkedIn members that had followed or endorsed a company.
Although LinkedIn did inform users of the change before it was implemented the opt-out nature meant users would have to specifically state they did not want their name and image to be used in these adverts. This caused a backlash from users, who voiced concerns about privacy.
Now the company has taken on board user feedback and tweaked the way it uses details in social adverts. Instead of names and images appearing the advert will instead show a link that a user can click to see who in their network follows that particular company.
Above: How the adverts used to look
Below: What they look like now
"The trust of our members is central to what we do, and we always aim for clarity, consistency, and member control in all matters related to privacy and data," Ryan Roslansky said on LinkedIn’s blog.
"We never share personal information with third party advertisers. That was true prior to the launch of the social ads test, and remains true today. The only information that is used in social ads is information that is already publicly available and viewable by anyone in your network," he continued.
In addition the company has also introduced a one-click opt-out for all social adverts.
"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," Roslansky added.
LinkedIn floated on the stock market in May 2010, with first day trading at one point giving the company a valuation of $11.6bn.
