Tighter API Rules at LinkedIn Spur Closure of Popular App

Developer Roger Lee announced today that he would shut down Job Change Notifier, a LinkedIn app that sent an email every time a member of the user's network changed his or her title on the site. The death of the app, which had 100,000 users, is evidence that users sometimes suffer when later-stage companies begin to restrict access to their APIs, or application programming interfaces, to drive their monetization strategies.

Developer Roger Lee announced today that he would shut down Job Change Notifier, a LinkedIn app that sent an email every time a member of the user’s network changed his or her title on the site.

The death of the app, which had 100,000 users, is evidence that users sometimes suffer when later-stage companies begin to restrict access to their APIs, or application programming interfaces, to drive their monetization strategies.

Among new API rules LinkedIn will finalize on July 15 is one that limits the time a third-party app can access a user’s profile to 60 days, with no option for the user him or herself to choose to extend the access.

In a statement, LinkedIn said the changes would “ensure a consistent authentication experience for our members across the many applications using the LinkedIn platform” and “provide members with more control and visibility into the data being accessed by the developer’s application.”

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