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Betrayed by LinkedIn

developer.linkedin.com

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Re: Betrayed by LinkedIn

#3

Post by bdfh42 »

Yet another flawed business model based entirely upon the goodwill and co-operation of a bigger fish in the pond.

Don't they know that bigger fish can swim away any time they want? Oh, and they might just turn around and swallow you.

To further mix my metaphors - we have had "Cathedrals" and "bazaars" and now we have shacks leant against the city walls.

Re: Betrayed by LinkedIn

#4

Post by toyg »

This is the risk of building your business on somebody else's platform; there's always a degree of sharecropping involved, and in this realm, landowners are not bound to any law.

I wonder how many "big" startups will offer APIs from now on. Many API-friendly services (delicious, twitter) have changed their stance, and Google didn't even want to release an API for G+. Many "new" APIs are basically useless, as companies are scared to death by piggybackers.

Re: Betrayed by LinkedIn

#5

Post by davidjgraph »

Many Western cultures struggle with the Japanese way of doing business. It's all about slow, face to face, building of relationships. Trust is earned over a long time and once you gain that trust, there is a heavy sense of duty to maintain it.

It's just a lot harder to screw someone over when you have to look them in the eyes to do it.

Re: Betrayed by LinkedIn

#7

Post by mtkd »

A business model based 100% on a 3rd party social graph API is not a business model.

I hope they can pivot the work they've done to something more standalone.

Re: Betrayed by LinkedIn

#8

Post by watty »

mtkd wrote: post #7

A business model based 100% on a 3rd party social graph API is not a business model. I hope they can pivot the work they've done to something more standalone.

Why do you think this? It's certainly riskier but there have been many successful companies that start out relying heavily on a 3rd party APIs.

Re: Betrayed by LinkedIn

#9

Post by adrr »

davidjgraph wrote: post #5

Many Western cultures struggle with the Japanese way of doing business. It's all about slow, face to face, building of relationships. Trust is earned over a long time and once you gain that trust, there is a heavy sense of duty to maintain it. It's just a lot harder to screw someone over when you have to look them in the eyes to do it.

That would mean developers would have to build up a relationship and trust before linkedin would give you an API key.

Re: Betrayed by LinkedIn

#10

Post by nicholassmith »

watty wrote: post #8
mtkd wrote: post #7

A business model based 100% on a 3rd party social graph API is not a business model. I hope they can pivot the work they've done to something more standalone.

Why do you think this? It's certainly riskier but there have been many successful companies that start out relying heavily on a 3rd party APIs.

If you have a business model that's based on a one sided relationship, then the chances of it going sour is significantly higher. Plenty of companies start out relying on 3rd party APIs and most of the time it's a happy relationship, but see what happened when the 3rd party needs monetise like Twitter did.
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