LinkedIn launched a new platform for developers

LinkedIn announced the launch of a new platform which enables the developers and website publishers to add content from LinkedIn social network. This option is much like Facebook Connect option.  

“In October, we announced early access to a new Javascript platform to help make integrating LinkedIn faster and more powerful.  Since then, we’ve had over a thousand developers test out the new technology platform, serving over one billion page views across the web,” said Adam Nash, vice president for product management.  

The release supports OAuth 2.0 and Javascript APIs.  

The company offers 7 plugins “to help bring professional identity & insights into the application”, including the following:  

• Sign In with LinkedIn, which makes it easier for users to authenticate or register for the user’s site using their LinkedIn identity
• Share, a button which enables visitors to share the user’s website with LinkedIn’s professional audience
• Member Profile, which brings LinkedIn profiles to the user’s site
• Full Member Profile, which brings larger, more detailed LinkedIn profiles to the user’s site
• Company Profile, which displays key company info at-a-glance.
• Company Insider, which shows rich company data from several different views.
• Recommend, a button which enables users to recommend the products and drive traffic back to the user’s site. 

Also they made significant infrastructure improvements to the platform itself.  According to Adam, the JavaScript framework now loads significantly faster. SSL support and more robust OAuth support were added.