LinkedIn opens APIs for enterprise apps integration

Corporate users of LinkedIn will soon be able to access data stored in the networking tool from their business applications.

The world's largest professional networking site, which now boasts 50 million users, has released a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) that will let developers integrate corporate networking data with enterprise applications.

Widgets have also been released for a faster integration process, allowing developers to add the most used LinkedIn features with just a few lines of JavaScript.

Developers can access the new widgets and APIs from a new LinkedIn Platform web site.

This latest move transcends LinkedIn's earlier launch of a platform for developers that allowed them to build widgets and applications on LinkedIn itself.

The company has already integrated with enterprise applications such as IBM Lotus Notes, Microsoft Outlook and Research in Motion's BlackBerry smartphones.

First-time developers will now be able to access the platform's data, such as Twitter application Tweetdeck and BT voiceover company Ribbit.

The next version of Tweetdeck, for example, will allow users to see all their LinkedIn updates in a new column.

The LinkedIn APIs will also mean that developers could choose to build whole new standalone products.

One example is Work Digital, who V3.co.uk owner Incisive Media has a strategic investment in, that runs Twitter Job Search. Work Digital has released a new standalone dashboard for job seekers with the LinkedIn API. The company claims that Dash is the first LinkedIn API product to go live.