LinkedIn is expanding their developer capabilities by launching a platform today with new Application Programming Interfaces and social plug-ins. In comparison to Facebook and Twitter, which launched developer platforms some time ago, LinkedIn has finally made their APIs available to any developers who want to use them.
One of the great features of the newly launched platform is the allowance of plug-ins for personal sites. Now the “Sign in with LinkedIn” button and “in Share” buttons can be implemented on personal and company websites. Also available are plug-ins that feature personal or company profiles as well as a “Recommend” button that allows users to suggest products in their network.
The ease in which these buttons can be applied is as simple as a few lines of JavaScript on the third-party site, and allow for customizable settings. This gives users more functionality in terms of their LinkedIn accounts, and they now can feature interactive buttons alongside their Facebook “Like” and Tweet buttons.
By LinkedIn recently hitting their 100 million user milestone, it seems reasonable that the company would expand their ability to integrate with third-party sites. This gives LinkedIn a social boost, with the potential of new users being driven through third-party sites and existing users making new connections via LinkedIn networks.
Will you add LinkedIn buttons to your personal or company site? Will this give LinkedIn a competitive edge against other social media channels, such as Facebook Pages or possible Twitter Brand Pages? Let us know what you think!
