LinkedIn Plans Restrictions For Developer API
by
on October 12, 2007,
A recent conversation with LinkedIn CEO Dan Nye at the New York Times, revealed some of the details involved with the business networking site's future plans to offer a developer platform.
With the Facebook Platform, developers are free to develop whatever applications their minds can come up with, which accounts for some useless apps, such as the Homeland Security Terror Alert Advisor that constantly shows the terror alert level in your profile and Booze Mail which allows you to send friends a virtual round of drinks.
Mr. Nye says that LinkedIn, on the other hand, is business-oriented and therefore will require oversight and final approval of all projects that developers wish to create for the network of professionals.
“We have no interest in doing it like Facebook with an open A.P.I. letting people do whatever they want,” Mr. Nye stated. “We’re not going to have people sending electronic hamburgers to each other.”
The two primary types of applications that LinkedIn will be looking for are those that integrate users LinkedIn connections with other services, and those that add features directly to LinkedIn. An example provided by Dan Nye is “a module connected to a trade show or conference that integrated travel planning and other features,” which would add usefulness and increase productivity.
“On many other Web sites, there is a lot of noise and a lot of interference. When you go to LinkedIn, we want you to be confident you can accomplish your goals, be productive and move on with your day. We are not trying to get you to come back multiple times throughout the day.”
To further distance the LinkedIn platform from that of Facebook, money will play a role as LinkedIn has shown interest in generating and sharing revenue through deals with developers. The details of such arrangements have yet to be discussed, however.
Facebook seems to have started a new trend among social networks, and each service has its own view of which road to take, with Tagged wanting a Facebook Platform clone and now with LinkedIn trying to remain as professional and unique as possible.
While Nick O'Neill may believe that Facebook is threatening LinkedIn, the different visions of each company makes its very apparent that these are two social networking services that have different types of users and, therefore, different targets. In fact, LinkedIn's new business-minded strategy proves that Facebook is not a business application.
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Svetlana Gladkova
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Michael Fidler 
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Yolanda
I think its a good idea…I really like the way LinkedIn is keeping its focus on the business segment and not getting caught up in the facebook mania. I think it bodes well for their long term success.
-Jitendra
This is more evidence that it’s time to link out of linkedIn. Although it’s good to cater to a specific audience, keeping their platform semi-closed will limit overall site adoption to those just discovering these sites and it will not stop the bleeding of their cutomers moving to facebook and other social utilities.
Personally, i believe it is better to be very good at one thing than trying to spread yourself too thin.
LinkedIn wants to keeps is focus on business unlike the decision Facebook made to expand beyond college students, and then even more openly to developers.
As long as LinkedIn stays focused on their segment of the market, I believe they can do a much better job than Facebook at business networking.