Social media is a great tool for reaching out, telling your friends what you’re up to at every second, or, if you’re more professionally inclined, actually networking to get yourself employed or garner more business. Unfortunately, as it is with putting yourself out there, you’re at the mercy of a specific network’s privacy statements and all of its fine print.  

After a lot of hubbub over Facebook’s questionable practices when it comes to users’ photos, LinkedIn (News - Alert) did something similar, changing its privacy policy to allow users’ photos and data to be used in social ads. It was one of those quiet policies in which a new feature is added before telling users. Once word got out, LinkedIn members were none too happy.

LinkedIn released a feature it called “social advertising” which allows LinkedIn to “sometimes pair an advertiser's message with social content from LinkedIn's network in order to make the ad more relevant.” According to ZDNet, the company warned users the change was coming via a privacy policy update in June.

Again, this was all under the radar, so unless you’re the type to constantly monitoring your social networking sites for up-to-the-second changes, it was sight unseen.

It was Sophos' Naked Security blog who exposed the new policy. And then there was much ado about it, and people were angry.

It didn't take long for LinkedIn to get the message. According to The Wall Street Journal, “the company retreated, informing members that their photos would no longer accompany ads. Instead, ads will state the number of a user's connections who either follow or recommend the product or company.”

“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, LinkedIn's director of product management, wrote in a blog post.

Rolanksky said those who don't wish to participate in the program can opt out via LinkedIn's Accounts and Settings Page.

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