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I’m happy to report that LinkedIn just launched their Intelligent Applications Platform (InApps), built using the OpenSocial 0.8 specification. This initial release features a healthy set of productivity applications, which provide new avenues for collaboration across the 30 million users on LinkedIn. It's exciting to see LinkedIn paving the way for a whole new type of OpenSocial applications, and thus expanding OpenSocial into the professional context.

The apps available today come from companies such as Amazon, TripIt, SlideShare, and Google. You can start using the applications by visiting the LinkedIn Application Directory. LinkedIn works closely with each developer to ensure a good user experience and chooses partners based on the professional utility of applications, the quality of technology and content, and the integrity of the company’s privacy practices.

For those interested in building applications on LinkedIn, there is a lot of good news:

• As part of OpenSocial 0.8, LinkedIn deployed a REST endpoint with OAuth support
• There are unique monetization opportunities for apps built for LinkedIn
• LinkedIn is offering support for all of the "viral" messaging channels defined in OpenSocial:
  • requestSendMessage
  • requestShareApp
  • activities integration directly into "Network Updates"
• InApps is built using Shindig (Java)
• Going forward, LinkedIn is working on support for OpenSocial 0.8.1, and providing a developer sandbox

To find out more about building an application on LinkedIn, please get in touch with LinkedIn, and come chat at the upcoming OpenSocial birthday event on November 13.

Posted by Dan Peterson, on behalf of the OpenSocial Foundation