LinkedIn Dropping User Pictures From Ads

LinkedIn has decided to stop using the pictures of its users in ads. Responding to critical reports in a blog post on Thursday, Ryan Roslansky, director of product management for the business-oriented social network, conceded that LinkedIn could have communicated its intentions regarding social ads more clearly and acknowledged that some of the site's users were unhappy having their names and images used in commercial messages.

"[E]ven though our members are happy to have their actions, such as recommendations, be viewable by their network as a public action, some of those same members may not be comfortable with the use of their names and photos associated with those actions used in ads served to their network," Roslansky wrote.

The revised Ads By LinkedIn Members format will no longer include user pictures but will retain a link that leads to a list of users in the viewer's network that have followed the advertised service or company.

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