LinkedIn took a shot at Facebook Wednesday with a new platform that will let third-party Web sites add content from the professional social-networking site.
Much like Facebook Connect, which adds Facebook information on sites outside Facebook.com, LinkedIn's "professional Web" platform will let site owners add LinkedIn plug-ins. The release also includes support for OAuth 2.0 and Javascript APIs.
There are seven plug-in options, starting with the ability for visitors to sign into or register with a Web site using their LinkedIn ID. A share button, meanwhile, lets LinkedIn users share your Web site with their connections. There are also several options for adding profile information to a third-party site: member profile, which brings LinkedIn profiles to your site; full member profile, which brings more detailed profiles; company profiles, which imports key, at-a-glance company information; and company insider, which is more detailed. Finally, a recommend button lets users recommend your products in an effort to drive traffic back to your site.
For developers and Web site owners, adding the LinkedIn platform takes a few lines of code, the company said in a blog post.
LinkedIn started testing its "professional Web" platform back in October, and "since then, we've had over a thousand developers test out the new technology platform, serving over one billion page views across the Web," wrote Adam Nash, LinkedIn's vice president of product management.
The service is live now at developer.linkedin.com.
Last month, LinkedIn launched a number of new products, including the LinkedIn Today news site, LinkedIn Skills, LinkedIn Maps, and updated its LinkedIn iOS app with the new news focus. The company also said that its LinkedIn Signal product would be opened up to all users.