Linkedin Blog

In President Obama’s State of the Union last night, he highlighted our many shared aspirations, chief among which is finding a job that pays the bill and getting a chance to get ahead. We want to help you make this a reality, so today and tomorrow, we’re offering job seekers 50% off the first three months of a LinkedIn Business account. In addition, we want to increase your job opportunities by providing companies a “buy one, get one free” job posting incentive.

The past months have been enormously difficult for the global economy. The U.S. job market, in particular, has been hit hard with millions of lost jobs and an unemployment rate in the double digits. Economists claim the recession is over, but for many without a job – or sometimes in a job that does not inspire them – this sounds cruelly abstract. Landing a job, and ideally one they’re passionate about, is still a primary concern.

LinkedIn is in a unique position to connect millions of professionals with the best career opportunities from all types of employers – small and medium businesses and larger corporations.

Ed. note: This belongs to a series of posts on how web sites and services are integrating LinkedIn functionality using the recently launched LinkedIn API. Thanks to Marcy Shinder, Vice President at American Express OPEN, for this week’s post.

We created OPEN Forum, American Express OPEN’s online community for business owners, to provide them with a place to connect and exchange insights that could help them build their businesses. We initially designed the site just for our business Cardmembers because we felt this “credentialization” as a business owner could help minimize the clutter that befalls some other networking sites. But, when we learned that LinkedIn was looking to open up its platform, it gave us an opportunity to extend the platform for many more business professionals while still maintaining the standards that our members are accustomed to.

With the LinkedIn API, millions of entrepreneurs and other business professionals on LinkedIn will now be able to actively participate in discussions on OPEN Forum by using their LinkedIn credentials – regardless of whether they are card members or not. Also, via the oAuth login, LinkedIn members can now engage with our industry experts and business owners on the Idea Hub, which features a wide array of videos and articles from business and social media thought-leaders like Guy Kawasaki (Alltop), Henry Blodget (The Business Insider), and Adam Ostrow (Mashable) among others.

As a company that’s based on the mantra “Relationships Matter”; we want to make it easier than ever for you to find, organize and stay in touch with your business connections. Over the next few weeks, you will start seeing improvements to your LinkedIn address book that will help you be more productive. Feature details after the jump.

Browse and find your connections more easily

Ed. note. This belongs to a series of posts on how web sites and services are integrating LinkedIn functionality using the recently launched LinkedIn API. Thanks to Dan Seyer, VP Product Management at Ribbit for kicking off this series in 2010! And, wish you a very Happy New Year!

Ribbit Mobile provides a brand new way to manage your calls, messages, and phones. To get started, link your mobile phone to Ribbit – a simple process that takes less than a minute.  Once setup is complete, Ribbit transcribes your voicemail to text and sends it to you via text message and email. When online, you can make browser-based calls using your mobile caller ID. Ribbit also provides you with an unlimited message inbox, where you can read, listen to, and even share copies of your voicemail, and much more.

To enhance your experience of making and receiving calls online, Ribbit offers a powerful feature called Caller ID 2.0.  We designed Caller ID 2.0 so that you would know not only who is calling but also what the caller has been sharing online.  Many Ribbit Mobile customers are mobile professionals who are active on LinkedIn, so our team jumped at the chance to get access to the LinkedIn API.