September 17, 2014
LinkedIn stores information on you that you cannot easily access. Information like your activity and account history, who invited you to join, or the last time you logged in.
Curious about the information LinkedIn has on you?
LinkedIn now gives you the ability to request an archive of this hidden information.
Watch this video for more info or scroll down to read more:
The data available in this LinkedIn Archive includes:
[one_half]Account information:
[/one_half][one_half_last]Other information:
[/one_half_last]
I’ve requested my LinkedIn Archive but it takes 72 hours for it be ready for download. Considering that I’ve been on LinkedIn since 2005, I can imagine that I will receive something akin to a novel. Once I have access to my LinkedIn Archive, I’ll post an update as to what it really contains. We shall see!
Less than 24 hours after requesting my LinkedIn Archive, I received the following email:
I eagerly clicked on the link and downloaded my archive.
The archive is a zipped file that contains a slew of .csv files, 1 txt file and the files you’ve uploaded to LinkedIn.
What did I learn about the info LinkedIn has on me?
LinkedIn includes a text file that describes what each file contains. Here it is copied and pasted for you to read:
ACCOUNT STATUS HISTORY
In this file you can see the date and time your LinkedIn account was created, closed, or reopened.AD TARGETING
This file contains information we use to figure out what ads to show you. Some ofnthe targeting data may be derived from other information you’ve given us, for example, we might use your title as a clue to your seniority level.ADS CLICKED
This file has the ads you’ve clicked on.CERTIFICATIONS
This file contains a list of certifications that you’ve included on your profile.COMMENTS
This file is a record of the comments that you’ve made, excluding comments on posts in Groups. It includes the date, the URL where your comment was posted, the comment itself, the item you commented on, and what kind of content it was (e.g. articles, shares, new positions, etc.).CONNECTIONS
This file contains the connections you have on LinkedIn.COURSES
This file contains a list of the courses you’ve taken and listed on your profile.EDUCATION
This file contains the schools you’ve listed on LinkedIn, plus any details you included like the dates you attended, degrees you earned, and activities you participated in.EMAILS
This file contains all of the email addresses that you’ve ever used on LinkedIn and indicates which one is the primary email address where you’re receiving LinkedIn communications.ENDORSEMENT INFO
This file contains a list of everyone who’s endorsed you, the skill they endorsed you for, and the date of the endorsement. If you accepted the member’s endorsement, the “Endorsement Status” will say, “Accepted”. If you hid the endorsement from your profile later, it’ll say “Hide” under “Display Status”. Rejected endorsements are automatically hidden.GROUP COMMENTS
This file has all of the comments you posted in Groups. It includes your comment, the title of the discussion you commented on, the name of the group, and the URL linking to the discussion.GROUP LIKES
This file contains all of the “Liked Text” from your posts in Groups.GROUP POSTS
This file contains all the posts you started in Groups. It includes the post titles, the posts themselves, the time you posted, the group name, and a link to the discussion.HONORS
This file contains honors you’ve listed on LinkedIn plus any details you included like the description, who gave it to you, and the date.INBOX
This file contains all of the messages that are in your Messages, Sent, and Archive folders. It even has the messages in the Trash folder (if you haven’t emptied it). The file includes the date of the messages, the messages themselves, the subject lines, and whether a message was incoming or outgoing.LANGUAGES
This file lists the languages you indicated that you understand along with your level of proficiency.LIKES
This file contains the updates you liked except for in Groups. It includes the date you liked the update, the type of post, the title of the post, and the content of the post, if there is one. It also includes the URL of the post, if there is one.LOGIN ATTEMPTS
This file shows all the stored login attempts for your account. It includes the application that you were using when you tried to login (called the “User Agent”), the IP address of the computer, the assumed country based on the IP address, date, and what type of login it was. “Website Login” indicates that you attempted to sign in using either the LinkedIn website or a LinkedIn mobile app. “Third Party Login” indicates an attempted login from another site using OAuth, for example using a login with LinkedIn button elsewhere on the web. When we weren’t able to determine the information about the login attempt, we simply refer to it as “Login”.MOBILE APPLICATIONS
This file contains the LinkedIn applications you’ve downloaded to your mobile device that we have registered with your account. It also shows the dates they were registered.NAME CHANGES
This file contains any name changes you may have made. It includes the date of the name change and the language in which it was made.ORGANIZATIONS
This file contains information about the organizations you’ve listed on your LinkedIn profile. It includes details you’ve provided like the name and a description of the organization, along with your position and how long you were there.PATENTS
This file contains information about any patents you hold that you’ve listed on your LinkedIn profile. It also includes details you provided like the issue date, filing number, etc.PHONE NUMBERS
This file contains the phone numbers that you have associated with your LinkedIn account.PHOTOS
Photos that you’ve shared on LinkedIn will appear in your archive folder as image files.POSITIONS
This file contains all of the job roles that you have listed on your LinkedIn profile including the name of the companies you’ve worked for, your titles, a description of your duties, the locations, and the dates.PROFILE
This file contains the basic biographical information that makes up your LinkedIn profile.PROJECTS
This file contains the projects that you’ve listed on your profile including the title and length of the project along with a description and any web address you provided.PUBLICATIONS
This file contains a list of any publications that you have listed on your LinkedIn profile.RECOMMENDATIONS RECEIVED
This file contains a list of all the recommendations you’ve received. It includes the name of the person who recommended you, the date of the recommendation, and if you’re displaying it on your profile.RECOMMENDATIONS GIVEN
This file contains a list of all of the recommendations you’ve given. It includes the name of the person you recommended and the date you wrote the recommendation.REGISTRATION INFO
This file contains the date you registered on LinkedIn, the IP address you registered from, and the member who invited you, if there was one. It also shows your current subscription type.SEARCH QUERIES
This file contains a list of your recent searches on LinkedIn.SECURITY CHALLENGES
This file contains a list of all the challenge events for your account. Challenge events occur when you login from an unfamiliar computer or when you’ve used 2-factor authentication with a “Pin”, “Captcha” or other “Challenge Type” to confirm your identity. It includes the date of the challenge, the IP address the login attempt was made from, the assumed country, and the type of challenge.SHARES
This file contains everything you’ve shared or re-shared plus posts you’ve made on the homepage company pages, and university pages. It includes the date, title, description, whether it was public or private (i.e. visibility), and a link to any images you included. If you shared a link, it’ll also include the URL. (Note that not everything that gets shared will have all of these.)SKILLS
This file contains a list of all of the skills you’ve added to your profile.
So what do you think about this? Is it odd that LinkedIn is keeping all this hidden information on us or is it great that they allow us to see it? Comment in the comments section… scroll down!
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What will be interesting is what LI does with the information. A 4 color Cartier Ad on my homepage is a rather obvious indicator of what they are doing…
My girlfriend recently asked for her account info from LinkedIn as did you, but she still hasn’t been able to figure out how to make since of the data she received. She was wanting some emails she had sent a good ways back & all she could do was see the heading of where she was wanting to be…when she asked me to try, wel…I found that we both are computer illiterate & can not get to where she wants to go. Lol what or how do we get to the heart of the situation so to speak? Thank you for your time.