Linked - The Windows 8.1 app for all things LinkedIn

[TheMasterPT]

Linked attempts to deliver a solid LinkedIn experience in Windows 8.1. At the time of writing (and one of the reasons why I developed it in the first place), Linked is the only truly native LinkedIn app for Windows 8.1, given that all the other ones are just web wrappers for the different parts of the LinkedIn universe and content.

One of the reasons why that is the case with the world's most important professional / business social network is probably that the LinkedIn API is extremely limited: there are complete resource groups of LinkedIn content which are forbidden to be accessed by the API unless the owner is cleared for the Vetted API Access or is a selected LinkedIn partner. I have tried a number of times to have this clearance, but it seems that only a very high-profile LinkedIn product (I'm thinking a minimum of 100k downloads) or a much more serious business partnership with them may do the trick. Some very basic things which Linked doesn't do because of this limitation are people search, a comprehensive and detailed job page and also job search.

Even considering these limitations, I have otherwise used pretty much all of the LinkedIn API and thus I believe created a compelling app that can cater to the needs of many people who look into LinkedIn for their business urges.

Features (as shown in the store app):

• Beautiful panorama-based app
• Incremental loading support
• Search and share support
• Add new contacts
• Live tile (network updates or company updates)
• Geo-location supported by Bing Maps
• Video support (network updates)
• Company and network update statistics
• Shortcuts management
• Network updates with videos, pictures and links
• Company, group and job suggestions
• Post from another app
• Send messages to users
• Comment and like network updates
• Post network update with link and preview
• Manage groups, discussions, following companies and job bookmarks
• Language support (English and Portuguese)
• Post as company
• Pin content to start screen
• Page transitions

Screenshots (as shown in the store app):



















I didn't start with this app (in App Spotlight) because personally I believe that Flickrology is a way better app in terms of craftsmanship, what the API allows me to do and the appeal potential of the app itself. However, it needs to be stated that Linked is by far my most successful app: in only four months it surpassed Flickrology's downloads (Flickrology is almost one year older than Linked!) and it now stands with more than double the downloads of that other app. My current stats are 13k+ downloads, with an average of more than 100 downloads everyday (I know it's not a lot but I am proud of it anyway). I believe that the reason behind this is the sheer larger user base that LinkedIn has and the fact that a typical LinkedIn user may be much more familiar with IT (than a Flickr user).

In terms of using the LinkedIn API, as I said I don't think that, at this time, I can do much more with it. However, I still have some plans for the app, such as a redesign (to be completely honest with you I never fully enjoyed it especially in light of what I did with Flickrology), a rebranding (Linked is a too typical name to be searchable), adding more languages, as well as some other stuff.

Unlike Flickrology (again very weird), this app was never featured anywhere (that I know of, of course), so for this app particularly I wished that you could pick it up and display it any way you can. At the same time, I hope I get meaningful and clever suggestions as to how I can further improve it.

The Store link is Linked app for Windows in the Windows Store.

Thank you.

 

[TheMasterPT]

Updated screenshots and features.

 

[TheMasterPT]

​Good afternoon.

LinkedIn updated their API program last May; the update effectively closes a lot of API areas (the LinkedIn API is divided into domain areas such as people, jobs, companies, groups, etc.) that were previously open for everyone. I believe that some exceptions were made for some API keys using criteria that I haven't had access to, while a long process has been running (and is probably still running) to manually check how some of those keys are actually being used and from then LinkedIn decides what to do with them.

​I have been contacted by LinkedIn last week in order to explain what was the usage of my API key, i.e. Linked for Windows 8.1. Since my app makes use of every single one of the API areas that I could get my hands on (excepting the Vetted API areas which I have never been granted access to anyway) and the objective of my app honestly overlaps with the LinkedIn website itself (it's basically just another means to access LinkedIn), they obviously excluded my app from benefiting from the old API access.

The updates made to the API program are REALLY huge; to put it in simple terms, it's easier and faster to look at what what STILL REMAINS than at what was removed, because it was a lot. I have just checked and it seems that FOR THE MOMENT the blocking hasn't been made yet to Linked; however, it will most definitely be done along the following weeks, and that will render Linked pretty useless. So keep in mind that it will happen in the coming days.

That being said, I will not change my app to accommodate the changes, because frankly the resulting product will not be of the utmost quality, not for me as the developer (I take very much pride in the apps I craft), nor for the end-user, who would be given a very poor offering of features. Also, as I've said when I was forced to terminate my app Google+Plus (copyright infringement), I am slowly moving away from development in general, and these events only make that process run faster, since these two apps were my most successful ones; I will therefore not make any changes to my app.

Someday along the next weeks / months (basically when my ad revenue / in-app purchases overall really tend to reach 0) I will close my Windows developer account.

I'm sorry and thank you for everything!