I speak about Social Equity and Social Media in my business forum; I share my well-read foundational knowledge. My business card notes social media strategy because that which I know is practically and statistically sound. I have a decent Klout score that says “he knows something” about this. Additionally, while I never note myself as an expert, I have the good fortune of knowing some experts in the field. I can help prospects and clients connect to folks smarter than me. From everything I’ve read on leadership, balanced humility and quality connections with folks smarter than oneself is a mark of a good leader….so I try…
In my business forum, I always speak publicly about my “love-hate” relationship with FaceBook. And if I’m honest, the more I see of the illusion of friendships on the medium, the further I tip to the “H” side of the scale. (People appear to be angels to masses are really hurtful to the few that know them.) Thus, Twitter and LinkedIn seem to have much more redeeming value in this social media, business age. But even these tech tools need to be carefully watched. Having said all that, I continue learning new things everyday from clients and gurus and trackable personal experience in working with the media. Something YOU want to understand about these big mediums is that YOU the user do not OWN your content. Another great example proving this has come to my attention, so I want to share it with you.
Recently, LinkedIn has added a default setting in YOUR/MY/OUR accounts, whereby they have checked a box as if they were us and given our permission that our images and names can be harvested by (likely read in, sold to) third-party advertisers. To my knowledge, they didn’t send a bulk announcement to all their users to let us know they were doing this for us. Fatty FaceBook has had this power over us for sometime.
As Americans we get our noses out of joint when FREEDOMS are taken away. So many of us will be annoyed or offended that Mr. LinkedIn thought they should DECIDE on our behalf that I/YOU wanted to give away this professional or personal privacy and freedom. Should you like to reclaim your rights to your personal information, here’s the simple steps how to do it.
Step 1: Locate your name (top right corner) on your LinkedIn homepage. Hover, so the scroll down menu shows, so you can CLICK “Settings”.
Step 2: From the “Settings” page, CLICK “Account*” located on the lower left of the design. (in a box listing)
Step 3: In the column next to “Account”, click “Manage Social Advertising” .
Step 4: De-select already checked box (the dogs) next to “LinkedIn may use my name, photo in social advertising” .
Step 5: Click “Save”. Then confirm YOUR new default settings via E-mail Preferences (Partner InMails) or Groups, Companies & Applications. Ensure everything is okey dokey by reviewing “Data Sharing with 3rd-party applications”.
Just Blazing Justice!
