Archive for the Applications

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Online services were normally limited to the coding capabilities of the developers and most recently online web applications are becoming more sophisticated than ever and more flexible for integration in various services. LinkedIn saw the benefits of this and ended up having their own applications platform in late 2008. These applications grant better functionality to LinkedIn members and serve as profile enhancers that add more appeal and generate a better impression as a professional. Here are some of the recommended applications to use for adding more professionalism to your profile.

Google Presentation

LinkedIn and all the other social networking profiles lack interactive features, but if you add the Google Presentation application, you can turn your still profile into something that can drive more interest to your viewers. Everyone knows how well made presentations can make an impact during speeches and conferences. Use that same concept in your social networking profile and you should find more people running after you. Of course, the presentation must look really good because you are in LinkedIn and you should always keep professionalism in mind.

Company Buzz

It is always important to keep an open channel and when it comes to business, keeping an open channel allows you to understand what other people think about the business that you are in. This appears to be beyond the scope of what LinkedIn has to offer which is why the Company Buzz application exists. This application links to the Twitter activity that relates to the company you are in so you can keep an easy track on what people say about your business based on key words and tweets. This can be shared among your coworkers and other people you are connected to in LinkedIn.

Blog Link

One of the features that most of the social networks have that LinkedIn doesn’t is a blogging function. This is because LinkedIn keeps focus with the business functions and having a blogging feature may cause people to use it for personal purposes. However there are many online entrepreneurs updating their business blogs everyday and previously, people could only post a link in hopes of them clicking on it.

Now LinkedIn can fetch entries on the blog to display on the LinkedIn profile for all to see just by having your profile glanced at. Blog link supports a variety of blog platforms so nobody having an ongoing blog should be left out. A blog can turn your complete profile into a more attractive one where people connected to you can always be updated with your latest activity and progress.

Box.net Files

File sharing used to be popular among local networks, but now it is heavily being practiced over the internet due to the connection speeds being much higher than before and more online services like Box.net providing affordable packages in getting all sorts of files across. Whether it is a document or interactive application, files stored on the box.net account can now be shared on the LinkedIn profile without the need of posting a messy link.

There are more applications to choose from if you check out the list by logging into your LinkedIn account. Choose the applications that you need to avoid your profile from being too cluttered.

Back in the early days when LinkedIn was still growing, LinkedIn was considered a social networking site with high goals of gathering professionals across the globe into a single community where professionals that know each other can connect and keep in touch professionally using the unique features that LinkedIn has to offer. LinkedIn continues to grow even now and the developers have been hard at work developing new features that can attract new users and encourage existing members to use their services even more.

This plan has worked with the successful implementation of the application platform and other free features like the popular LinkedIn Answers where people can seek professional help from the community. But these nifty features do not take the full credit alone in LinkedIn’s growth because LinkedIn’s coverage is a lot larger than some people may think.

In fact, LinkedIn has become so widely used that other developers have been looking into putting LinkedIn features into their applications so that people can use LinkedIn functions without depending on their browser. There aren’t many at the moment, but with LinkedIn’s number of registered users growing every day, more applications will provide LinkedIn support in the future. Here are a few that are working right now.

Digsby

Digsby is an instant messaging application that has been receiving a lot of attention since its first release last February 2008. This is because Digsby is and will remain as a free application and its seamless integration with instant messaging networks, e-mail accounts, and social networking sites attracted so many people in taking the application for a spin. The concept and design was appreciated by the majority and now the Digsby team has been hard at work ironing out bugs and adding new features to their highly anticipated software.

One of the features added to a recent build was LinkedIn support and that has caused nothing but praise for both existing Digsby users and LinkedIn loyalists. Currently, Digsby allows fetching the newsfeed from LinkedIn and checking for new messages from the program. You can also set your status from Digsby, making it a good start for Digsby lovers to dive into LinkedIn without any worries. More features may come as things progress.

Xobni

Despite the numerous online services available for managing contacts and e-mail, a good number of people still use Microsoft Outlook to manage their contacts so they can access them offline. Microsoft Outlook has served people on the go for many years, but never ended up to be a perfect personal information manager due to its limited searching capabilities. Xobni fills in that role by offering a faster search for cluttered inboxes. Because people who use Xobni with Outlook are most likely professionals on the go, LinkedIn and Xobni partnered to add LinkedIn support to contacts so that LinkedIn information can be displayed on the Xobni sidebar. This shows some basic information fetched from the LinkedIn profile including the number of connections the person has and a convenient link to his or her LinkedIn profile. Contact management now meets professional social networking in Xobni.

These are just some of the programs that have been getting better reception since LinkedIn was implemented. More applications should adapt because LinkedIn is expanding and adding even more features.

One of the best applications now available for LinkedIn users is the “My Travel” application by Tripit.

The My Travel application allows on the go LinkedIn users and professionals to let their network and colleagues know their travel itinerary.  This will allow connections to know when they will be in the same city or when they will be attending the same conference or event. It also allows for personal connections to occur with former colleagues and friends from school or an old organization.

We are not the only ones raving about the new app.  Additional comments from other groups are:

• “TripIt’s straightforward approach makes it addictive…” – Walt Mossberg Solution, Wall Street Journal
• “Best for organizing travel details…” – CNN, Travel + Leisure
• “Easy and damn useful…” – DailyCandy
• “A terrific site that has changed my travel life…” – WNBC New York TV
• “It’s kind of magical…” – Joel on Software