Linkedin API is or is not for delevopers?

I must say that I’m really surprised… I own a blog about LinkedIn and particularly about the future of LinkedIn and how new features and new ideas for LinkedIn could not only benefit LinkedIn company but also and QUITE more important LinkedIn users.

I also must say that I’m kind of a developer and I’m waiting for LinkedIn API to launch some little online application that would make LinkedIn experience better.

Why am I writing then? Well, I write about the future of LinkedIn just for fun, not to make money. I’m building that “test” addin application just for fun and not for money, I’m doing that in my free time so hearing that LinkedIn will open only to approved company sounds really sad (even though they approve me in the future or not) but also very hard and painful.

I mean… I definitely won’t wait for an approval… I definitely won’t wait for they keeping some part of any of my possible revenue because it will my work. If I build a great application by using their API, they will also win, because people and more people, and more traffic, and more and more things can be done in their website, so if I win they win… BUT.. if I lose with my application that uses LinkedIn API, I lose money and time and they lose NOTHING. So, this is not fare at all…

Providing an open API for developers (as they announce some time ago) means really to be OPEN, and this is not being OPEN AT ALL. If that happen I will definitely try to move to Facebook, XING, Marzar or whatever other business social network that works in an open way.

Web World is looking forward to be open and I won’t be part of an “open to just some approved companies” website. I will definitely do my dev staff and blog staff and spend my free time in another thing… (I’m writing at same time I’m thinking) or do I have to be paid by LinkedIn because I’m giving them some ideas (even though they probably don’t read my blog :D) that they could transform to earn money from that. Or even they share their revenues with us (users): I mean.. they earn money not only because of linkedin website service but also because of us that enter, use and navigate the website and provide them with traffic, information and lot more…

Sorry for this “no positive at all” vision but as a free time LinkedIn add-in developer and blogger about LinkedIn I’m really not happy…

Linkedin strategy for upcoming "not so open" platform

I’m back at blogging after two weeks approximately with some “possible” not good news for developers and people that are waiting Linkedin’s API.

Why? Well.. Reading Mashable.com I found an interesting post about a New York times’ article about Linkedin strategy for the upcoming API.

I guess all can be resumed to the next phrase:

“We have no interest in doing it like Facebook with an open A.P.I. letting people do whatever they want,” Mr. Nye said.

Mr. Nye is the chief executive of Linkedin, so he has the power to the decide the future of linkedin.

“So LinkedIn will have to approve any company that wants to tap into its system. Mr. Nye says he is looking for two kinds of applications. First, there are deals that enable LinkedIn members to tap into their connections in other places, for example, while using applications like Salesforce.com. Second, some applications will be allowed to add features to LinkedIn’s own site. Mr. Nye offered, as an example, a module connected to a trade show or conference that integrated travel planning and other features.”

On June 24th they mentioned they will open to developers… and they are just openning to some companies not to developers at all…

What can I say?… I have no words…

As a resume.. It looks like they are building a “not so open” platform.

Facebook is extending APIs to compete with Linkedin

Some months ago Facebook publish APIs to become a great (or very great) and amazing social network where people not just only communicate their selves using Facebook functionality but also to extend it and use it the way they want.

On the weekend I saw one post at insidefacebook (here) talking about new APIs to stay on top and to start competing with the still “uncertain” linkedin API and also with the biggest Facebook Application: Slide.

The two new API methods are:

    * friends.getLists
    * friends.getListsMembers

Those two methods let developers build Facebook Applications that get access and clasify people in many ways…

Based on these method names, “Friend Lists” could be buddy lists that you might use to organize your friends. For example, “Work Friends” or, say… “Top Friends”.

Why these methods are Linkedin related? Well, Justin Smith at his post at insidefacebook.com mentioned:

This will be a welcome change for everyone whose LinkedIn networks have migrated to Facebook. Consequently, this could mean accelerated LinkedIn attrition: per-Friend-List privacy settings could substantially decrease the need of many to actively maintain their LinkedIn accounts as well.

As a conclusion, Facebook is working really hard, not only in making its API more and more powerful each day, but also to stay on the top of social networks. And they are doing quite well!!!!

Maybe, before Linkedin API is ready, we have some more Facebook API’s methods to have Linkedin functionality completely inside their website.

Writing a blog post with Windows Live Writer Beta

Today I was looking for some information about a Microsoft Product I need for my work and I find something I didn’t know: Windows Live Writer Beta.

I’ve just tested it and everything works ok. It looks really nice and it’s very comfortable because it provides to bloggers the chance to manage (write, edit and delete) blog posts into a win application.

I still don’t find the way to test grammar check and things that Microsoft Office offers. Maybe it’s not available on this Windows Live product but in that case, users can add an add-on with that functionality. Anyway , it uses Blogspot, WordPress and Typepad API to get all the information on our blogs so we can feel just like if we were in the web interface.

The best issues:

• Web Preview option gives us an immediate preview of the post into the website.
• User Interface
• Manage multiple blogs
• HTML Editor

I think in this web world we are living now, this is a really interesting application that give us all the flexibility and facilities to blog on our own desktop. They also provide an API so developers can extend it (just like Facebook but in Windows Apps) and plugins (add-ons like Firefox) so each user can use Live Writer application just the way and with the things each want.

Here is the Download link and some product information here and here.

Hope you find this as interesting, useful and amazing as I did.

By the way, this post have been written with Windows Live Writer 😉

LinkedIn Groups: hosted in Yahoo, Google or Facebook and not at LinkedIn

I just want to say that just one of those groups I recommended in my last posts is registered as a group of LinkedIn. Why? Maybe because you have to pay for having a group at LinkedIn so, when there a lot of websites like yahoo, Google, and even on Facebook (the “competitor”?) that let you host groups in a free way, why someone will pay to LinkedIn?

 

Furthermore, LinkedIn groups are too restrictive and the only functionality they have is to access members as if we make a search looking for “Specific group members only”. I mean, you are not connected in any way with the other members or the group; you just have access to know who they are, but nothing else.

 

When you open a group at Yahoo, Google or Facebook for example, you not only get access to build a community, find people and contact them (being like LinkedIn direct connections) but also you get the most important issue: posts, questions and answers, file upload and pictures for example.

 

I’m just trying to understand what LinkedIn groups are or mean and which advantages we have when being part of a group where you do not have any new functionality.

 

I will take a free weekend but when I come back I will start writing a small series of post talking about how we can improve groups’ functionality at LinkedIn or others business social networks, and how other social networks use and benefit by using groups.

Linkedin v Facebook v Ecademy: the generation divide?

In my second day in this blog I think I could start talking about some things I want to, but I found yesterday two other blog posts of people I usually read that make me change my idea of what I was going to write.

I will figure out my two cents about “Linkedin v Facebook: the generation divide” in the Simon Blog, he talked about how linkedin and Facebook will be fighting for being the leader in the social networking business.

First of all, he mention Ecademy at the end of his post. I think Ecademy is one of the best business social networking on the internet but their main problem they are suffering is:

• Really bad web interface that don’t invite users to use it: Interfaces are not the most important point in a website, but I think is something really important because this is what we see with our eyes , and is an image of what we are doing in that precise moment. Ecademy has really bad interfaces that make me think about “why I don’t look in any other place for a more usable business SN website”.
• Lack of marketing or activities that take people into their site: I’ve been using Linkedin since a year ago and I just hear about Ecademy.com some month ago when I started reading “The Virtual Handshake”. After that I tried to start using Ecademy but I was never attracted to it and I came back entirely to Linkedin.

As Simon said, people in their thirties use Linkedin while people in their twenties are using Facebook and is obvious that people grow so “twentiers” will become “thirtiers”, but I don’t know if that is the point. I mean, if facebook want to cover business social networking then will have to think ideas for the people in their thirties and not in the people that will become thirties soon because, Linkedin is already working , and Facebook must try to win there, in a working plattform, so if they want to beat Linkedin they must try to think things for the people that is using nowadays Linkedin.

The same way, Linkedin must try to do something to attract new people and particularly, more Facebook users. One way is to build a widget for facebook, other way is to open its API and let people do their own personalized Linkedins. Linkedin has an advantage and is that their business platform is already running so new people will go by themselves, and existing people have their valuable profile. Instead, Facebook will not only build an interesting business network but also to atract Linkedin connections and business to its page.

I think the best thing for users will be that both Linkedin and Facebook think about us and think how they can work together with plugins, widgets, or whatever they can build so we can have Linkedin into Facebook if we want and also Facebook into linkedin.

Linkedin apps

In response to the “LinkedIn Apps” in the lisaamorao blog, I think Linkedin Apps will appear when Linkedin API appears, but this is not the problem with Linkedin and its users. The main problem linkedin will have to work with is how long they take to make their API public and usefull for any kind of developer that want to improve linkedin usability.
In the next two or three months I think someone will think about in how to replace Linkedin in a community like Facebook or with the new and “easy to create new social networking sites” ning.com.
Anyway, I guess it will not be easy to beat Linkedin. I guess that they will do whatever they can to stay on top of the business social networking websites and most of all they will somehow use their large community to do it.

Specifically talking about what kind of application will appear I think there will be a lot of new staff there like:

• lot of new widgets like all this widgets we can use on facebook
• CRM integration directly from your linkedin
• CMS integration directly from your linkedin
• RSS widgets so anyone can show what kind of information someone reads.
• Information about pricing, brochures or thinks more important than just a resume.

The question will be when and who will be giving the first step in the new open API linkedin website.

Welcome…

Hi everybody…

I will use this blog to put my thoughts about linkedin.com and all the things we, users, and we, developers, can do to build a big better linkedin. I don’t have any relation with linkedin and I also don’t work at linkedin.com but I think with all this new staff about Facebook.com , ning.com, all new social networking websites and WebServices and API , we have a lot to do on linkedin