Have you ever taken a look at the LinkedIn User Agreement?
You’ll find a long list of no-nos. Violate any of these and you risk having them take down your profile.
A scary thought, since so many people rely on LinkedIn for executive job search, career and business management.
Refraining from doing some things is just common sense.
Most of us know better than to post a lewd profile photo of ourselves. But did you know that the Agreement states you must not “use an image that is not your likeness”?
I’ve seen plenty of profile photos of animals, or children (presumably the members’ children), or logos. The member doesn’t even appear in the photo.
And did you realize that when you hire someone to create your LinkedIn profile, you’d better not let them log into your account to post the content? You should post it yourself.
Take a few moments to look at the User Agreement. It’s an eye-opener.
5 Surprising LinkedIn User Agreement Violations
I’ve pulled these from LinkedIn’s 40+ (at this writing) “DOs” and “DON’Ts”, listed in Section 8 of the Agreement. Members must not:
1. Add content that is not intended for, or inaccurate for, a designated field (e.g. submitting a telephone number in the “title” or any other field, or including telephone numbers, email addresses, street addresses or any personally identifiable information for which there is not a field provided by LinkedIn).
2. Use an image that is not your likeness or a head-shot photo for your profile.
3. Create a Member profile for anyone other than yourself (a real person).
4. Invite people you do not know to join your network.
5. Use LinkedIn invitations to send messages to people who don’t know you or who are unlikely to recognize you as a known contact.
More About LinkedIn and Executive Job Search
LinkedIn FAQs for Executive Job Search
5 Ways to Keep Your Executive Job Search Confidential on LinkedIn
