As I've mentioned ad nauseaum, LinkedIn is an opt-in site, requiring mutual acceptance. You may get a lot of unsolicited invitations from strangers at the megacorp you work at, but you won't see spam mail, advertising something that you don't want, like you might see on MySpace. I like that.

Another thing LinkedIn is considerate about is your privacy. You can make your profile, recommendations, and connections as public or private as you want. The customizable settings are so extensive, you have to scroll on the Account & Settings page to see them all. On my monitor, it takes two 'page downs' to get to the bottom (basically two and a quarter screens worth).

For your profile, you can choose either a full view, or none at all. Under full view, you can select different sections to be included in that visibility. You can even choose to view details of positions and education (or not). Privacy is a major concern so it's good to know that you have choices in your visibility.

But it doesn't stop there on LinkedIn. Per the Privacy FAQ, "LinkedIn is committed to protecting the privacy of all individuals who use our services, and our privacy policies are certified and monitored by TRUSTe® as compliant with US and EU privacy laws. " It goes further to explain it does not share your identifying information without your permission. That includes your email addresses. You will not get spam from LinkedIn.

Among the many things you can customize on LinkedIn settings are:

Receiving Introductions and InMails (under Receiving Messages)

Receiving Invitations (under Receiving Messages)

Receiving Job Notifications (under Receiving Messages)

If Group Members can contact you (under Your Groups)

Advertising settings (under Privacy Settings)

If those you are connected with can browse your connections (under Privacy Settings)

Service Provider Directory (under Privacy Settings)

Profile Views (under Privacy Settings)