LinkedIn bows to user pressure, restores tool to export contacts

Professional network LinkedIn had restored the tool that allowed users to export their contacts, which had been quietly removed on 23 July, leaving users outraged.

Instead of the export contacts feature, LinkedIn required its users to send in requests for archives containing their own data, a process that would take upto 72 hours.

The feature allowed users to export the connections that they had made in LinkedIn through downloading a file in the VCF or CSV format. The file would include all the contacts made through LinkedIn, along with any contacts that the user manually imported into the service.

LinkedIn users made their disappointment clear over the change as they had to wait a maximum of three days just to be able to pull their contacts from the social network. The users wanted immediate export of contacts without the need to wait up to 72 hours.

Stung by the user revolt, LinkedIn reinstated the export contacts tool.

LinkedIn VP of product management Michael Korcuska said in a post on the company's LinkedIn Security blog , LinkedIn had listened to the user complaints and had decided to bring back the export contacts tool.

''Earlier this week, we turned off our CSV connections download tool and asked our members to use another data export process as part of our ongoing efforts to combat the inappropriate export of member data by third parties. This process delivered more data but took longer, usually 24 hours but in some cases up to 72 hours. Since that change, we've heard you loud and clear - that is too long to have to wait for a download of connection information. Effective immediately, we have turned the CSV download link back on.

"Our goal is to make as much of your data, including connection data, available within minutes. We will keep the CSV connections tool available until we can reach that goal (some other data items will be available in an extended archive that may take longer to process). We will then turn this tool off again, as part of our ongoing anti-scraping efforts.

"We believe that the data our members enter into LinkedIn is theirs and they should be able to export it. We are also committed to ensuring members have control of what data can be exported by their connections.

"In the coming weeks and months you can expect to see us take additional steps to increase that control and to make the scraping of member data by third parties more difficult. Scraping is against our Terms Of Service and potentially detrimental to the members whose data is being scraped.

"We are sorry for the inconvenience this caused and resolve to do better in the future.''