The LinkedIn API, also known as the REST API is the heart of all programmatic interactions with LinkedIn.  All other methods of interacting, such as JavaScript as well as the Mobile SDKs, are simply wrappers around the REST API to provide an added level of convenience for developers.  Hence as a result, even if you are doing mobile or JavaScript development, it’s still worth taking the time to familiarize yourself with how the REST API works and what it can do for you.

How is LinkedIn useful?

LinkedIn is a social network with over 460 million + users worldwide. It’s one of the major social networks (along with Facebook, Twitter and Google+). We, at AeroLeads, consider it a gold mine of sales information! Hence, maybe that’s why nearly every B2B salesperson is using LinkedIn to prospect and convert connections on LinkedIn into clients. Also, like many sales products, it’s priced in a way that closing a deal or two completely justifies the cost.

LinkedIn API

Bring the power of the world’s largest professional network to your apps. By using the LinkedIn API you can use several LinkedIn services. LinkedIn has examined the value of offering an open API to all developers and found the said program not to be in the company’s best interest. It would be restricting broad LinkedIn API use to a few simple use cases, including those specified by LinkedIn itself –

1. Allowing members to represent their professional identity via their LinkedIn profile using the Profile API.
2.  Enabling the members to post certifications directly to their LinkedIn profile with the Add to Profile tools.
3.  It also helps the members to share professional content to their LinkedIn network from across the Web leveraging the Share API.
4.  Enabling companies to share professional content to LinkedIn with the Company API.
5.  Reduce friction and get more sign-ups by allowing users to sign in with LinkedIn instead of creating a new account.
6.  Minimize the cost and time associated with implementing your own login, profile management, password change and recovery workflows.
7.  Personalize your sites and apps with up-to-date member profile data.

https://api.linkedin.com/v1/people/~

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<person>
  <id>1R2RtA</id>
  <first-name>Frodo</first-name>
  <last-name>Baggins</last-name>
  <headline>Jewelery Repossession in Middle Earth</headline>
  <site-standard-profile-request>
    <url>https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=…</url>
  </site-standard-profile-request>
</person>

https://api.linkedin.com/v1/people/~?format=json

How to get your LinkedIn API Key

Now that we know the above concepts, the next step is to get your LinkedIn API key. This could help with various plugins that are used on LinkedIn.

For example, If you want to have advanced analytics you will need to specify your LinkedIn API key when configuring the CloudApply plugin. Hence, if you don’t already have a LinkedIn API key, you need one to use the Apply Plugin. Create a LinkedIn® API key and remember the API Key that is generated for you. It will look something like d8amgl12v4ht. Also, if you already have a LinkedIn® API key, you can reuse it.

To retrieve your API Key –

1 Navigate to https://devloper.linkedin.com/.

2 Click Sign In.

3 Log in using your LinkedIn® account credentials.

4 Click OK, I’ll Allow It.

5 From the Support menu, select API Keys.

6 Click Add New Application.

7 On the Add New Application page, complete the required information for each field, noting the following :

• In the Application Name field, enter a name for the application (e.g., Acme Staffing LinkedIn® Integration).

• In the OAuth User Agreement Default Scope field, select the following scope:

r_emailaddress,

r_contactinfo,

r_fullprofile

• In the OAuth 2.0 Redirect URLs field, list the following, separating each by a comma:

http://apply.useast.appfog.ctl.io/api/signin.php,

https://apply.useast.appfog.ctl.io/api/signin.php

• In the JavaScript API Domains field, list the following, separating each by a comma:

http://apply.useast.appfog.ctl.io,

https://apply.useast.appfog.ctl.io,

http://yourdomain.com (change to be the domain of your job pages)

• Click Add Application.

• On the Application Details page, copy the string of letters and numbers under the API Key and Secret Key fields and paste it into the API Key and Secret Key fields on the Configure Widget form back in ApplyMetrics; then complete the rest of the instructions above to finish enabling the integration.

How to integrate LinkedIn API

Hence, the final step is to use your perfect LinkedIn API. So, basically follow these simple steps :

https://api.linkedin.com/v1/people/~?format=json

{
  "firstName": "Frodo",
  "headline": "2nd Generation Adventurer",
  "id": "1R2RtA",
  "lastName": "Baggins",
  "siteStandardProfileRequest": {
    "url": "https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=…"
  }
}

https://api.linkedin.com/v1/people/~:(id,num-connections,picture-url)?format=json

{
  "id": "1R2RtA",
  "numConnections": 42,
  "pictureUrl": "https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mprx/…"
}

Accept-Language: es-ES, en-US, it-IT