LinkedIn adds API, features (and hirsute coders)

Thanks for the add, IT Blogwatch: in which LinkedIn emerges, butterfly-like from its Web 2.0 chrysalis. Not to mention the programmer dress code...

Here's Heather Havenstein:

LinkedIn Corp., whose social network is aimed at business professionals, today announced plans to open its platform and provide tools to developers so that they can add data from LinkedIn profiles to their business applications. LinkedIn also announced the beta test versions of a home page that showcases new business applications and a beta version of a new news feed that will provide users with prefiltered content. [more]

LinkedIn's Mario Sundar adds:

The past few weeks have seen the release of a slew of features that have helped augment your experience of LinkedIn ... we're glad to announce the next step in that evolution - a completely redesigned homepage as well as further details on LinkedIn's Intelligent Application Platform. [more]

Mark Hendrickson crunches the changes:

LinkedIn, the social network for professionals, is trying to establish itself as a better destination with a stronger presence ... news aggregator ... will not require any manual training. It will rely on its own algorithms to automatically determine what you may be interested in reading ... It is actively working with select group of partners to develop applications with the new API. [more]

Anne Zelenka takes the contrarian view:

LinkedIn wants to emulate Facebook’s success by drawing users and applications through the use of a similar portal strategy. But LinkedIn’s best chance at success lies in doing just the opposite: reaching out to other web sites and applications ... [it] has always been about recording and browsing professional networks, not building those networks. Building the relationships that LinkedIn displays happens elsewhere. [more]

Peter Kafka ponders the Murdoch rumors:

Late last month LinkedIn CEO Dan Nye told Fortune that Rupert Murdoch's company had approached them about a deal. Now LinkedIn is telling reporters, off-the-record, that there's nothing in the works ... [It] will allow publishers to add buttons or hyperlinks to their text that will connect LinkedIn users with information about specific companies. [more]

Barry Graubart sees the light:

LinkedIn is trying to reposition itself as more of a destination social network site, as opposed to a tool used periodically for specific tasks. That's critical if they are to increase their page views ... only about a third of LinkedIn users login at least once per quarter, as compared to nearly 60% of Facebook users who log in on a daily basis. That said, LinkedIn has an advantage over Facebook today in that it has more than 15 million users who already use it for business purposes. While it may not match the hype of Facebook, the LinkedIn platform could enable b2b content providers to actually make money. [more]

But Marshall Kirkpatrick's not so sure:

While some of what was announced is very cool, I'm not sure how ready the business world is for widgets ... [it's] a closed platform for select 3rd party partners, built on top of an API of questionable worth and targeted at business users with a history of disinterest in social applications ... Did we mention that the users will be people with money, though? I imagine that for that reason if nothing else, widget developers will remain very interested. [more]

Last word has to go to Steve from Troy, NY:

You mean that posting pictures of my drunken self on facebook isn't a good way to network?! [more]

[You too can pretend to be friends with your humble blogwatcher on Facebook or LinkedIn.]

And finally...

• Who was the guy that started the unkempt programmer code of honor?
  • Hey, Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson - Are we programming here or going to a Hell's Angels meeting?
  • Richard Stallman looks like he'd fit in better at a wood chopping competition
  • John McCarthy - Long lost relative of Colonel Sanders
  • Guido Van Rossum has an afro that would make Snoop Dog smile
    
  • Alan Cox - Holy crap
    

Buffer overflow:

• Duncan Riley: Nobel Laureate Says The Internet Makes Us Dumb, We Say: Meh
• 4sysops: Download Vista SP1 RC1 from Windows Update with a little hack
• Craig Borysowich: Using the UML - A live example
• John Timmer: iPod U: Profs get podcast tools, students get Cliffs Notes
• Data Center Knowledge: Disney Invests $6 Million in EdgeCast CDN
• The Open Sourcerer: Vista beaten by both Apple's Mac OS X and Linux

Other Computerworld bloggers:

• Robert L. Mitchell: The coolest IT job in the world - some streaking required
• Michael R. Farnum: An "Ocean's 11"-style hit on a data center in London
• Don Tennant: Cadaver show symbolic of zombie-like customer service that killed CompUSA
• Sharon Machlis: Rails 2.0 thumbs up from a CEO hosting 3,000+ Rails apps
• Shark Tank: Exactly the right words
• Mark Hall: Manage SOA-related operational issues with service-oriented tool
• Mike Elgan: Denver airport pioneers fast, free Wi-Fi
• Douglas Schweitzer: We'll have to wait 'til January Macworld Expo to know if rumors are true
• Shark Bait: Sometimes You Just Have to Shake Your Head

Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/adviser/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and spam. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. You too can pretend to be Richi's friend on Facebook or LinkedIn.

Previously in IT Blogwatch:

• Sexy enterprise software? (and US <3 lists)
• Airlines try in-flight Wi-Fi again (and Microsoft Linux???)
• Longhorn server RC1 stampede! (and Zuck it up)