LinkedIn Apps

There was much talk about the LinkedIn API not too long ago. The buzz has gone down quite a bit and as people settle into a wait and see state, I’m kinda wondering, ok, would an open developer platform make LinkedIn better than it is?

From a marketing perspective it would be great to see LinkedIn as another way to distribute content. And I know I’ve written before that LinkedIn isn’t really much of a use to me other than to search names for sales leads, but now I’m thinking, so what’s wrong with that? I think I’ve been conditioned to think in terms of “what else can I do with it?” instead of appreciating things that are good for one specific purpose.

I know. I know. They gotta do it or Facebook will steal the networking show and with social networking becoming more mainstream there’s definitely a chance that it would take LinkedIn’s “professional” userbase.

But the question again is…will it necessarily make it better?

Ok so LinkedIn just has to do what LinkedIn’s gotta do. But now, what sort of applications do I really want to see?

Would I really want to know how each of my 350 contacts are feeling at this time? (ok there’s really only 60 of them but one can always dream to be in the LinkedIn 500+ category…and there’s the question of how meaningful exactly are those 500 contacts?)

Do I really want to know show my favorite YouTube videos or my Flickr photos there?

Or my Twitter, Jaiku or Pownce posts?

Oh but hey. I think it would be really cool to share an events calendar there or see which events my contacts are going to.

And I wish I didn’t have a limit on “InMail.”

And I wish I could start a group based on common interests or professional affiliation with a calendaring thingie and an RSVP thingie.

Or maybe publish a feed there from my blog.

So I guess I’m kind of torn. It would be cool to see what kind of apps are developed for LinkedIn when the developer platform is opened up.