LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 800 million members worldwide. As a social media platform focused on career networking and recruitment, LinkedIn collects and utilizes user data to optimize the user experience and provide value to members.
What user data does LinkedIn collect?
LinkedIn collects a broad range of user data including:
- Profile information – name, photo, job titles, work history, education, skills, interests, publications, certifications, volunteer work, languages, etc.
- Connections – your network of LinkedIn contacts
- Posts and activity – content you post, articles you like, groups you join, events you attend, etc.
- Job seeking activity – jobs you view, apply to, get contacted about
- Browsing information – pages you visit, ads you click, search terms you use, etc.
- Device and location data – IP address, device identifiers, operating system, etc.
- Communication metadata – information about emails and InMail exchanges on LinkedIn
Essentially any action you take on LinkedIn or information you provide in your profile is collected and stored by LinkedIn.
How does LinkedIn collect user data?
LinkedIn gathers user data through:
- Information you actively provide when signing up, completing your profile, messaging contacts, posting content, applying to jobs, etc.
- Cookies and tracking technologies that collect your browsing data and online activity
- Pixels and SDKs in third-party apps and websites that alert LinkedIn when you use their services
- Public information from external websites and data brokers
- Partnerships with companies that provide aggregated professional data
Some key methods LinkedIn uses to track your online activity include:
Method | Description |
---|---|
Cookies | Text files that track browsing behavior, remember sign-in details, optimize site functionality, and serve personalized ads |
Web beacons | invisible pixels that record when you visit a particular page or open an email |
SDKs and APIs | Software that integrates LinkedIn tools and passes usage data back to LinkedIn |
In addition, LinkedIn is able to make educated guesses about your work history, education, skills, and affiliations based on your connections and activity within the platform.
Why does LinkedIn collect so much user data?
LinkedIn collects extensive amounts of user data for the following key reasons:
- To improve the user experience – data helps LinkedIn personalize content and recommendations to match your interests and connections.
- To enable recruitment and marketing services – user data powers LinkedIn’s recruitment platform and targeted advertising capabilities.
- To develop new products – analytics on user activity and preferences inform the creation of new LinkedIn products and features.
- To establish value for premium subscribers – paying members expect enhanced visibility, insights, and exposure in return for their subscription fees.
- To drive business revenue – user data is monetized through premium subscriptions, marketing services, recruitment tools, and more.
- To conduct research – LinkedIn uses data to uncover professional insights and produce annual reports like the Global Talent Trends report.
In short, the extensive data collection powers LinkedIn’s services and enables the company to maximize the value it provides to members.
What data does LinkedIn share with third parties?
LinkedIn shares certain user data with third party partners, advertisers, and corporate affiliates including Microsoft. Data sharing permits integration with third-party apps and helps serve targeted sponsored content. Specifically, LinkedIn may share:
- Public profile information – your name, photo, current position, and other public details.
- Sponsored content – data for ad targeting and delivery based on your profile and activity.
- Analytics data – aggregated usage statistics and metrics.
- Application data – profile information shared with third-party apps you use via LinkedIn.
However, LinkedIn states that they do not sell personal data to third parties and do not share your contacts or email address.
Does LinkedIn sell user data?
LinkedIn does not directly sell individual user data the way that many other social media platforms do. However, they do effectively monetize user data by offering paid services including:
- Talent Solutions – recruiters pay for access to LinkedIn profile data and recruitment tools.
- Marketing Solutions – advertisers pay to target Sponsored Content to specific LinkedIn audiences using profile data.
- Premium Subscriptions – premium account features are enabled by the extensive data LinkedIn collects.
- LinkedIn Learning – user data helps inform recommendations for online courses and educational content.
While not openly sold, LinkedIn user data clearly drives major revenue streams for the company through these services.
Can you request your LinkedIn data be deleted?
Yes, LinkedIn does allow you to request deletion of your account and associated personal data under certain circumstances. You can permanently delete your account by:
- Going to your LinkedIn Account Settings
- Selecting “Close your account” under “Account management”
- Choosing “Close account” again to confirm
However, some data may remain in backups or aggregated analytics after account closure. You can also request corrections to your data via LinkedIn support.
Does LinkedIn allow you to opt-out of data collection?
LinkedIn does allow you to limit some data collection via:
- Ad personalization opt-out – prevents your activity being used for tailored ads.
- Disabling cookies – limits tracking of your site usage and browsing.
- Uninstalling the mobile app – prevents associated background data gathering.
- Restricting profile visibility – limits public access to your data.
- Avoiding third-party integrations – prevents passing data to partners.
However, many core LinkedIn features and services rely on data collection, so opting out severely limits your experience. There is no way to fully use LinkedIn while opting out of data collection entirely.
Is LinkedIn compliant with data protection laws?
As a multinational company, LinkedIn states that it complies with data protection laws in all jurisdictions where it operates, including:
- The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the US
- Local laws like Australia’s Privacy Act and Canada’s Personal Information Protection Act
LinkedIn offers mechanisms for data access, correction, deletion, and opt-out as required by law. However, compliance with broad “legitimate business interest” clauses enables ongoing extensive data collection.
LinkedIn data collection risks
While LinkedIn data practices are legal and centralized around serving users, there are some risks including:
- Data breaches – hackers could access sensitive user data as happened in 2012 and 2016.
- Unauthorized data use – employees or partners mishandle or exploit user data.
- Over-sharing by users – some share more personal data than needed on their profiles.
- Spam and harassment – bad actors abuse access to profiles and messaging.
- Biased algorithms – machine learning with limited data disadvantages underrepresented groups.
- Job discrimination – recruiters potentially misuse profile data in hiring decisions.
These risks can be mitigated through security measures, internal controls, user education, diverse hiring, and ethical AI practices.
Conclusion
In summary, LinkedIn engages in extensive yet legal data collection practices to power its platform and services. While users benefit from personalized experiences, LinkedIn gains immense commercial value from user data to drive revenues. Overall, LinkedIn aims to balance user privacy expectations with its data-driven business model. However, users should be informed about the breadth of data gathering when using the platform.