I am just becoming sensitive to the mass of data that LinkedIn holds on me, and on you, dear blog-nugget reader.
Not that I am paranoid, just curious.
I was looking around on the Privacy and Settings menu and saw something I never noticed before:
- when I moused over my tiny picture in the top right corner of any LinkedIn page,
- and then clicked on the “Account” tab, then click “request and archive of your data”
- I can request a data extract of all my activity and other materials LinkedIn gathers on me.
(Official instructions from LinkedIn are here)
I ordered it and in less than 24 (they said 72) hours, I had a set of excel files.
After reviewing the files, I see they collect data on the ads I clicked on, the people I surround myself with and the comments I make. More than that too.
But no real surprises-just amazing that they collect this. I guess since I have nothing to hide, I am ok.
You may feel differently.
I just don’t think you can do anything about it and you certainly want to continue using LinkedIn!
