Ads Transparency on LinkedIn
Trust is the cornerstone of any social platform. But to most people, advertising is a black box: ads appear with no sense of why, or how their data is being used.
“Why am I seeing this ad?” changes that. It keeps members informed on why each ad appears, gives them a safe way to manage how their data is used, and empowers them to make their experience more relevant.
The Impact
Working across product and engineering, we shipped one consistent transparency pattern across every LinkedIn surface and ad format, on and off the platform. Members can see why they're shown an ad and manage their preferences to see more relevant content for their career.
20K
Members view ad reasons daily
12K
Submit ad feedback daily
60%
Of visitors give feedback
Lead Product Designer
2022 - 8 mos.
Cross-functional (research, product, eng)
Ads transparency for right rail ads on web
Ad Reasons Model
Ads transparency on mobile feed
Design Iteration
Iterating on design following design systems refresh and feedback from members. Focus on simpler copy and surfacing contextual relevant actions.
Sharing ad feedback
Staggered flow that allows members to provide ad feedback and report if needed. Start measuring a signal around ad relevance for advertisers and gives clear controls for members
Scaling design
Collaborated with teams across LinkedIn organization to ensure design was consistent for all ad formats across different surfaces such as feed & messaging.
Reflections
Scaling one transparency pattern across every surface and format meant scaling across teams. Keeping it consistent took real collaboration with research, product, engineering, writing, & legal teams. The biggest lesson was that at this scale, the hard part isn't the design. It's getting everyone aligned behind the same principles.