A Zemanta-like LinkedIn plugin would be really cool

Image representing LinkedIn as depicted in Cru...

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Since I launched this blog I have been using Zemanta to help make my blog posts richer in content, either via adding inline links or related links added to the end of a post.  I like how the Zemanta plugin creates an overlay on the WordPress posting interface so that it seems like a part of WordPress itself.  It would be great if LinkedIn created a plugin like this, or if someone else created a plugin, that would enable the following features on top of LinkedIn:

  • Enable external email (GMail, Outlook, etc) to LinkedIn user being browsed (either in search or profile page).  Not sure LinkedIn would really like this but it would make my life easier :)  Rather than search on my connections for someone’s email address, the plugin could dig this out for me.  Maybe it could change the InMail link into an Email link that would give the option of InMail or regular email?
  • A mouse-over or clickable dropdown next to each job position on a profile that would list my connections who worked with that person during the same time period.  Right now I can only see a list (sometimes a huge list) of people on the right that are generically 2nd degree.
  • Ability to insert a signature or commonly used text into InMails, requests for contact, LinkedIn Answers posts, or connection requests.  I spoke about this in an earlier blog post. For example, I help with biz dev for one of our portfolio companies and for the most part use a generic description of their product.  It would be great if I could pop in that generic text (with a similar interface to how Zemanta handles related links) with a click rather than a whole bunch of typing.

I wonder if LinkedIn would allow such a plugin to interoperate with their service given that they are sensitive to automated scripts, etc running against the site?  This isn’t spammy and would seem to enhance the user experience.  Thoughts?

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2 comments
  1. Hey John,

    thanks for your post. We would love to work with LinkedIn. We have some additional ideas that we would like to try out with them, however we need their cooperation. It would be great if they get a user request from the community.

    Ales

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