

Linkedin pulls down avatars - cwan
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/11/my-linkedin-avatar.html

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mahmud
They're shedding the social-network image and trying to become a "professional
society". Smart move, and helps their image with advertisers.

Extreme personalization is not good for advertising. When everyone customizes
their online environment and interacts with a tight nit group of friends, the
polite conversation goes down and everyone is back to sharing lolcat images
and inane chatter about their day. Then, any advertising that appears in one's
"personal" space will either need to conform to one's tastes, or risk looking
like a billboard in someone's living room.

A cozy friendly environment would be LinkedIN's undoing, so they need to force
a cold, uniform corporate image throughout.

FWIW, if I am appraising[1] a site for CPM, along with traffic data, overall
CTR and demographic data, I would also look at the image of the site. A high-
end magazine-y website with staff graphic designers, quality content, and
general "posh" atmosphere will get higher CPM than an spartan, community-den
of a website that's entirely UGC driven. Advertisers prefer sites with strict
editorial control with minimal UGC, both for brand-safety and also for
improved perception of advertising (not only are ads taken for granted in
print publishing, but they also constitute a good portion of the _content_ ;
when people buy magazines to see ads and keep up with trends, the advertisers
can count on being seen and their brands recognized, even if there is no
immediate conversion, it's the brand-awareness that counts.)

\--

[1]Boutique niche ad-networks need to manually vet websites; if you think your
CPM is computer generated, you are either wrong or using crap like adsense (or
a bottom-feeder, 2nd-tier network with lousy inventory; web hosting ads on
your finance blog ;-)

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cwan
I don't think anyone who uses Linkedin gets it confused with the informality
of say Facebook. I'm guessing I'm not alone in separating my contacts such
that personal ones are on Facebook while work related ones are on Linkedin
being a more public face. That said, as Fred Wilson points out, shouldn't I
(and my contacts) be in the best position to judge how I portray myself to the
outside world?

How is having an avatar necessarily inconsistent with a "professional
society"? I have difficulty imagining how advertisers would object to Fred
Wilson's avatar. I've seen photos which are less professional than his avatar
- but why shouldn't this be in the control of the choice of the user who
almost certainly recognizes and differentiates between an informal network
like Facebook and Linkedin (and wouldn't it be even more in the interest of
the user than Linkedin to choose an image that furthers their career)?

While it ultimately and obviously is their prerogative to do what they want,
personally, I think it seems a bit arrogant and heavy handed.

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messel
Totally agree. While I respect LinkedIn's decision (saying no is hard), it
sounds like a bad move.

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icco
From the list of Don'ts from the LinkedIn user agreement: "upload a cartoon,
symbol, drawing or any content other than a photograph of yourself in your
profile photo;"

Seems like you violated that... Sure there is an argument about whether or not
this is a valid User Agreement, but you did agree to it by registering at
their site.

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jrockway
Clearly the solution is to print out the avatar image, take a photograph of
it, and upload that.

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Xixi
How would that be "a photograph of yourself" ?

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jrockway
It would be a photograph, and it would be of (a representation of) yourself.

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messel
I wonder if it sends the wrong message. They hold their general guidelines
higher than user judgement. You have to trust your users learn about the
social environment of a network. The network is ultimately the users, not the
companies, and the sooner businesses figure this out, the better.

Any site could have my photo, and my resume. If LinkedIn wants to be truly
valuable, they have to differentiate by giving me professional super tools.

Helping me find jobs for my unemployed friends would be an incredible value
add.

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gojomo
LinkedIn could indulge users' whimsy and still meet their business goals with
a mixed policy: allowing a non-literal-photograph primary profile picture _if
and only if_ another accurate photo is also uploaded (and thus available to
users who click-through to, or set a preference for, photos).

