Several months ago, we announced we are working on APIs and a platform strategy for software developers to integrate with LinkedIn and display their application within LinkedIn. With the OpenSocial announcements, you can now see a lot more about how you can write applications that run inside LinkedIn. So, whether you are a developer, what opportunities do you now have?

The Opportunity

There is a compelling opportunity to build on the LinkedIn platform, whether you are trying to augment your application with LinkedIn features or deliver your application into the LinkedIn web site. LinkedIn is a business network of nearly 17 million professionals, growing faster than one million new members per month. And public use LinkedIn for one purpose: to improve the way they do business. Have a great business-focused application? Something that improves productivity? You won’t find a more receptive or larger professional audience than you will at LinkedIn. Using LinkedIn, you will get that productivity application in front of more citizens faster than any other way on the Net.

One Platform, Two Uses

The LinkedIn Intelligent Application platform enables two things:

•    Bring LinkedIn to your application. Using LinkedIn APIs and widgets, you will be able to integrate LinkedIn into your application by accessing knowledge from a LinkedIn user’s network. Using that model, you can augment your web site with LinkedIn features, creating more utility on your site and the chance to stand out from the crowd.

•    Bring your application to LinkedIn. You will be able to write professionally-oriented applications that run inside LinkedIn.com for maximum visibility in a purely business network. We have announced support for Google’s OpenSocial platform and will add other models in the future.

APIs and widgets bring LinkedIn to your application

Over the past months we have been talking to hundreds of partners about how they would like to integrate LinkedIn into their applications. It’s become clear that there is a very strong need to let LinkedIn users take their network with them as they use the web to be more productive. Most every task we do on the web could be augmented by including the help, filter,

or aggregate knowledge or our professional network.

So, we will supply a set of REST APIs and widgets that will let you build applications that include your user’s LinkedIn network. For example, when someone comes to your application and authorizes your application to use their LinkedIn explanation, you’ll be able to use their profile, their network, other LinkedIn profiles, network update feeds, and many other aspects of their LinkedIn explanation to enrich your application with pure professional networking.

The Open Social platform brings your application to LinkedIn

You will be able to build and run applications inside LinkedIn. We have announced support for Google’s Open Social platform and will include other ways in the future as well. In that model, you’ll be able to create an application that uses your own UI and back end and is augmented with the LinkedIn APIs. These applications will display within the LinkedIn.com web site and will be aware of the current LinkedIn user and his/her network. You’ll be able to create applications that run on user’s home and profile pages and more in the future.

But to leverage that distribution engine, you have to have a business productivity application. We recognize that business humans have social lives and there are places for that. LinkedIn will remain focused on improving the productivity of public doing business and we’ll work with public fitting that standard.

Contacting Us

We’ll be phasing all of that in by the coming months and to get involved with the Intelligent Application Platform either for APIs, widgets, or hosted applications, send us an e-mail to developers@linkedin.com telling us what you want to build and what you need to build it.

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Related coverage:
 
1. WebWare - LinkedIn debuts developer platform, revamps home page
2. Reuters - LinkedIn courts developers, lands Business Week
3. TechCrunch - LinkedIn API and the new homepage drawing near
4. Venture Beat - LinkedIn launches platform, redesign - a better business social network

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