LinkedIn announces Facebook-like tentacles for the Web

LinkedIn announces Facebook-like tentacles for the Web - CNN

LinkedIn announced a new platform Wednesday for its business-focused social networking site -- offering websites and developers easy tools to embed "recommend" buttons, company-profile boxes and contact widgets on third-party websites -- as well as a way to log in to other sites using LinkedIn.

LinkedIn's Share button joins a growing number of plugins that try to get users to spread the word.

Calling it "a new platform for building the professional web," LinkedIn is seeking to challenge Facebook's growing control over online identity.
Once just a site for sharing photos and updates with friends, Facebook has woven itself into the fabric of the net with its Open Graph platform, that lets other websites embed Facebook widgets, install "Like" buttons, plug-in a commenting system, and let users log in with their Facebook credentials.

Though LinkedIn’s new platform doesn’t mention Facebook by name, the term “Professional Web” clearly shows the company trying to position itself as a more mature and respectable alternative to Facebook. The new tools rely on JavaScript APIs and the OAuth 2.0 system for logins (the same as used by Yahoo, Google and Twitter, among others).

Among the offerings:

• A Share button that posts a link to a page or news story to the user’s feed on LinkedIn.
• A Recommend button to give a vote to a product you like.
• Member profile widgets that show the LinkedIn profile of a company executive or website owner.

LinkedIn’s Share button joins a growing number of plugins that try to get users to spread the news about a site or news story, a pantheon that includes Facebook’s Like, Twitter’s Tweet button, and social voting and submission widgets from Digg and Reddit.

For those who run their own blogs or websites, LinkedIn is making it simple to show off a snippet of your LinkedIn profile and for visitors logged into LinkedIn, they’ll see thumbnails of connections they have in common.

Companies can also embed widgets that shows off employee profiles or profiles of companies featured on their site or in a news story, showing off the ones that are “in” your network. The box can also be configured to show off key information about the company — and a link to its official LinkedIn page — instead of employee profiles.

It’s a powerful challenge. LinkedIn has a solid and growing user base, one that’s shown it’s willing to pay for extra features. The company is preparing for an IPO, and extending the power of LinkedIn’s focus on business, not pleasure, outside of its online walls could help the company grow into a powerful competitor to Facebook. It would be the “real world” site that people graduate to, from the college fun of Facebook.

Unfortunately, LinkedIn’s platform faces the tough challenge of coming almost a year after Facebook debuted its Like button and its Open Graph API. In social networking years, it feels like almost a decade, and LinkedIn will have to work hard to convince websites and busy developers that it’s worth their time to graduate to the “professional web,” as well.

The Life and Death of Michael Jackson

ABC, NBC & CBS News to air Michael Jackson specials tonight

Farrah Fawcett had about four hours of headlines to herself on Thursday before Michael Jackson kicked her off the metaphorical front page. And both overshadowed Ed McMahon, who died on Tuesday.

They say celebrity deaths come in threes, but rarely do they come in such close proximity. The cancer-related deaths of former “Tonight Show” sidekick McMahon and former “Charlie’s Angel” Fawcett came as little shock, but Jackson’s was perhaps the most stunning celebrity exit since his friend Princess Diana died in a car crash in 1997.

Speaking of the so-called “People’s princess,” whose death basically paralyzed Britain and large parts of the world for weeks, she stole some of the thunder of Mother Teresa, who died five days later. And forget about conductor Georg Solti, who had the misfortune to die on the same day as the saint-in-waiting.

Jackson was pronounced dead at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. The former president died on June 5, 2004, and the lengthy mourning period enveloped the death of Ray Charles five days later.

Speaking of presidents, John F. Kennedy was assassinated on the same day in 1963 that “Brave New World” author Aldous Huxley and “Chronicles of Narnia” author C.S. Lewis died.

A would-be president, Barry Goldwater, died of a stroke in 1998. But people may have been focused on the murder of former “Saturday Night Live” comic Phil Hartman at the hands of his wife the day before.

In 2003, Hollywood old-timers Katharine Hepburn and Buddy Hackett died on the same day. But sometimes, it’s a toss-up who overshadows whom. British rocker Marc Bolan of T. Rex was killed in a 1977 car crash on the same day that opera diva Maria Callas died of a heart attack.

Michael Jackson overshadows Farrah Fawcett on a sad day Reuters Blogs

Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett Both Die on the Same Day AmericaJR.com

Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Mom all died on June 25th Daily Kos

Clovis News Journal - Examiner.com