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LinkedIn is a Professional Network, so they Can’t Save and Sell our Data
Many people say that LinkedIn is a professional network, so they can’t save our sell data. The reasoning is that since they are not traditional social media, they can’t have the same access that Facebook and Twitter have to our personal posts. That is one hundred percent false. Not only can they save and sell your personal information, but if you want to use their site paid, or unpaid, you have to agree to their privacy terms, in the United States that is. In Europe, the privacy laws are different. No social media site can save, store, share or sell your data without your explicit consent. Europeans can decline the sharing of their personal information and still use the service, but in the US you have to agree or you don’t get access.
LinkedIn offers a few options for their business network. There are a few paid versions, which are not low cost, they are actually pretty high cost, and then there is a free version. Regardless of which version you are using, LinkedIn saves, stores, sells, and uses all of the data you add to their network. This includes posts, comments, likes, blocks, contacts, InMails, work experience, articles you wrote, the jobs you applied to and any other things you are doing on their network. Just like any other social media website or application, LinkedIn also saves, stores sells and uses your personal information. Unlike other networks, however, it doesn’t make much sense to create an alias. On LinkedIn, the purpose is to connect with other professionals and to make contacts for customers, jobs, business advice, and employees. There seems to be more posting about various things like politics, current events, motivational quotes, news stories, and even sometimes business information and jobs. For a business networking site, there is very little business networking going on. There are a lot of recruiters, but no a lot of specialized areas like telecommute or cryptocurrency.
The interface and structure haven’t changed much since 2008 and neither has the overall use of the application. The original landing page with young actors and actresses like Blake Lively is still the same as it was ten years ago. Maybe this is an attempt at conservatism? Reaching out to people for work results in many dead-ends or no replies at all. There are many dead accounts and even more troll accounts, during the months leading up to the last presidential election, there were droves of unfamiliar users posting copious amounts of propaganda. Those accounts are surely still sitting there, just waiting for the next election. Activity and frequent posting don’t seem to garner any results as far as career opportunities go. People often complain that the content is becoming more Facebook-like as the years go by. This might just be a natural progression of people on the network getting to know one another, which makes it more like people sharing memes in the office. All of that aside, LinkedIn does share and sell your information, so that might be something to consider before posting. There are also privacy settings so your information at least can’t be viewed by non-connections. Those should be set-up in a way you’re comfortable with.
A backlash result of all this data gathering being done by LinkedIn and others is that our personal information ends up online. Various websites purchase data from data brokers and use it to create background check or people finder sites. If you find your name and address are online, contact an internet removal service who can show you how to remove your information from the internet. They can also delete information and remove your address from the internet.
