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LinkedIn Data Archive Failure

All we wanted is our LinkedIn Connections Contact Information. Instead we get LinkedIn Data Archive Failure.

2/26/15 Update – after writing and posting this article LinkedIn corrected the mistake and returned the Connections Export Function. The article is still useful in that it explains what the Data Archive contains.

LinkedIn Data Archive Failure

LinkedIn made the decision to remove the Connections Export Function this week. What a colossal failure.

A few months ago LinkedIn removed the ability to search your 1st Level member’s connections. That was a colossal mistake as well. Fortunately wisdom prevailed and LinkedIn returned that function.

Removing the Connection Export Function is a “knuckle-head” decision. Hopefully someone will show wisdom and LinkedIn will return this function as well.

Many of us are upset about the removal of this function. In an email from LinkedIn I was told:

“I understand this is a pretty big change.  We’ve historically had two ways for members to export their contacts, to simplify this experience we’ve now combined them into one single process.”

Unfortunately, LinkedIn removed the best of the two functions.

I requested my Data Archive on July 24, 2015 and in about 24 hours I received an email with the Link to this content. Wow, I have never been more disappointed with LinkedIn.

What percentage of LinkedIn members really want all of this stuff? And, to make the LinkedIn Data Archive an even bigger Failure, the archive is seriously incomplete and the csv file format is all screwed up.

When I downloaded the Zip file and expanded it I found the following files:

  • Account Status History.CSV
  • Ad Targeting.CSV
  • Ads Clicked.CSV
  • Burriss Consulting Career Transition.PDF
  • Burriss Consulting LinkedIn Training.PDF
  • Certifications.CSV
  • Comments.CSV
  • Connections.CSV
  • Courses.CSV
  • Digital Media PDF
  • Education.CSV
  • Group Comments.CSV
  • Group Likes.CSV
  • Group Posts.CSV
  • Likes.CSV
  • Login Attempts.CSV
  • Mobile Applications.CSV
  • Phone Numbers.CSV
  • Positions.CSV
  • Profile.CSV
  • Projects.CSV
  • Publications.CSV
  • Readme.txt
  • Recommendations Given.CSV
  • Recommendations Received.CSV
  • Registration Information.CSV
  • Search Queries.CSV
  • Security Challenges.CSV
  • Shares.CSV
  • Skills.CSV

In the Readme.txt File LinkedIn refers to the following files that I were not in my Data Archive:
Read my LinkedIn Data Archive Readme.txt ( I added top line)

  • Email Addresses
  • Endorsements
  • Honors
  • Inbox
  • Languages
  • Name Changes
  • Organizations
  • Patents
  • Photos
  • Publications

Why do I call this the LinkedIn Data Archive Failure?

Four primary reasons:

  1. All most LinkedIn members will ever want is the Connection information.
  2. The connections.csv file I received only had 750 records in it.
  3. The format of the connections.csv file was corrupted. It was an amateur attempt at creating a csv file (unlike the previous Export File with a clean csv format)
  4. This is a now a PR Nightmare for LinkedIn because their members were blind-sided by this failure

We need to encourage LinkedIn to revert back to the Connection Contact Export.

Have you experienced this same LinkedIn Data Archive Failure?

How can we help LinkedIn come to their senses and bring back our Connection Export File. This is truly all we really want.

A moment of prayer for LinkedIn over their LinkedIn Data Archive Failure

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