4 ms·

Job Change Notifier is shutting down

29 points by jhonovich 13y ago

tbatchelli 13y ago
I actually thought this service made LinkedIn somewhat useful. It's a loss for LinkedIn in my book. I have no idea what API changes caused this, but all this process of closing down ecosystems by locking down the public APIs makes the next public API less likely to be adopted, and we all lose in the end.
- timdorr 13y ago
  They are "upgrading" all app tokens to require their new scoped login system, which they've been using for new apps for the past couple years. It's a better system for the consumer, because the app has to specifically request access to information like your list of connections or email address. However, it also comes with a requirement to refresh your oAuth token every 60 days by sending the user through the authorization flow transparently. JCN relied on an infinite session to continually poll your connection list and send you an email when anyone changed jobs. Users visited their website once and then left, interacting with JCN almost exclusively via email. There's very little chance of re-engaging them to go log into the site (and thereby refresh their oAuth tokens) because there's almost nothing to do there.
  - pieterhg 13y ago
    They could easily send an email with a link to renew the OAuth token after 60 days though.
  - matznerd 13y ago
    why not just send them an email telling them that they need to re-auth to continue receiving notifications? Seems pretty simple to me...
    - timdorr 13y ago
      I'm a cofounder on a competing product (http://my.salesloft.com http://my.salesloft.com) and you would be surprised at how much of an uphill battle it is to get email users to engage with a web app. In particular, sales folks (our target market) are hard to convert. I can understand Roger wanting to shut down JCN rather than invest any more time and money on something that's not earning him anything directly.
josh2600 13y ago
Has anyone else noticed LinkedIn becoming increasingly hostile towards small consumers of its API? I feel like the first straw was the non-active positions being pulled from developers followed by secondary and tertiary connections. I don't dev on the LinkedIn API but as I understand it now, only their large enterprise partnerships have access to a number of features, and it looks like, from the sound of this, that that is only going to get worse. Is it possible to have an API-first public company? It's sort of like asking if it's possible to have an open, api-accessible data-warehouse (I think the answer is no, but maybe I'm wrong).
- mjolk 13y ago
  >Is it possible to have an API-first public company? It's sort of like asking if it's possible to have an open, api-accessible data-warehouse (I think the answer is no, but maybe I'm wrong). Unless you're charging for access to the APIs, you're going to have to generate the money to keep the lights on somehow. For linkedin, it's paid access to more user data and advertising, so it's understandable why they put the website first.
- corresation 13y ago
  It's the same pattern that every similar company goes through -- open and inclusive, increasingly to closed and defensive. Aside from outside services increasingly being blocked from constructively accessing LinkedIn's API, the company is becoming more insular in the other direction as well: Where once it allowed you to configure an external blog that could be itemized as stories on your own profile (which seems like a perfectly logical integration point if a LinkedIn profile were considered a central point of professional information), LinkedIn dumped that in favour of a invitation only siloed-data approach. No thanks. Where once I saw LinkedIn as an interesting Rolodex, increasingly I am getting an impression that one's career is in a bad place if feeding the LinkedIn beast is an important activity.
zwtaylor 13y ago
I was under the impression that LinkedIn already does this, I constantly receive notifications from them alerting me when a connection has taken up a new job or job title. Why the need for this app?
- timdorr 13y ago
  They do, but in an inconsistent way and without any sort of customizability. I sometimes get these emails, and sometimes don't. JCN let you also choose who to watch and will always send an email when it sees one.
- swalsh 13y ago
  I had no idea this app existed, but I wish i knew. I've found linkedin to have very noisy notifications. For my contacts job changes are about 90% of what I'm interested in. However its mixed in with wall posts (all recruiters) network connections etc. I've had experiences where I didn't find out about a change until over a year later. Its nice to know if a former coworker has moved, or if a contact at a vendor is no longer working at the place.
redmattred 13y ago
If anyone is looking for an alternative, we have similar service called "Radar" that will send you a weekly update on who has recently switched jobs or gotten promoted. It also predicts who in your network is potentially looking for a new job based on their recent LinkedIn activity. You can sign up for a free account at: http://www.bullhornreach.com http://www.bullhornreach.com

29 points by jhonovich 13y ago

I actually thought this service made LinkedIn somewhat useful. It's a loss for LinkedIn in my book. I have no idea what API changes caused this, but all this process of closing down ecosystems by locking down the public APIs makes the next public API less likely to be adopted, and we all lose in the end.

timdorr 13y ago
They are "upgrading" all app tokens to require their new scoped login system, which they've been using for new apps for the past couple years. It's a better system for the consumer, because the app has to specifically request access to information like your list of connections or email address. However, it also comes with a requirement to refresh your oAuth token every 60 days by sending the user through the authorization flow transparently. JCN relied on an infinite session to continually poll your connection list and send you an email when anyone changed jobs. Users visited their website once and then left, interacting with JCN almost exclusively via email. There's very little chance of re-engaging them to go log into the site (and thereby refresh their oAuth tokens) because there's almost nothing to do there.
- pieterhg 13y ago
  They could easily send an email with a link to renew the OAuth token after 60 days though.
- matznerd 13y ago
  why not just send them an email telling them that they need to re-auth to continue receiving notifications? Seems pretty simple to me...
  - timdorr 13y ago
    I'm a cofounder on a competing product (http://my.salesloft.com http://my.salesloft.com) and you would be surprised at how much of an uphill battle it is to get email users to engage with a web app. In particular, sales folks (our target market) are hard to convert. I can understand Roger wanting to shut down JCN rather than invest any more time and money on something that's not earning him anything directly.

josh2600 13y ago

Has anyone else noticed LinkedIn becoming increasingly hostile towards small consumers of its API? I feel like the first straw was the non-active positions being pulled from developers followed by secondary and tertiary connections. I don't dev on the LinkedIn API but as I understand it now, only their large enterprise partnerships have access to a number of features, and it looks like, from the sound of this, that that is only going to get worse. Is it possible to have an API-first public company? It's sort of like asking if it's possible to have an open, api-accessible data-warehouse (I think the answer is no, but maybe I'm wrong).

mjolk 13y ago
>Is it possible to have an API-first public company? It's sort of like asking if it's possible to have an open, api-accessible data-warehouse (I think the answer is no, but maybe I'm wrong). Unless you're charging for access to the APIs, you're going to have to generate the money to keep the lights on somehow. For linkedin, it's paid access to more user data and advertising, so it's understandable why they put the website first.
corresation 13y ago
It's the same pattern that every similar company goes through -- open and inclusive, increasingly to closed and defensive. Aside from outside services increasingly being blocked from constructively accessing LinkedIn's API, the company is becoming more insular in the other direction as well: Where once it allowed you to configure an external blog that could be itemized as stories on your own profile (which seems like a perfectly logical integration point if a LinkedIn profile were considered a central point of professional information), LinkedIn dumped that in favour of a invitation only siloed-data approach. No thanks. Where once I saw LinkedIn as an interesting Rolodex, increasingly I am getting an impression that one's career is in a bad place if feeding the LinkedIn beast is an important activity.

zwtaylor 13y ago

I was under the impression that LinkedIn already does this, I constantly receive notifications from them alerting me when a connection has taken up a new job or job title. Why the need for this app?

timdorr 13y ago
They do, but in an inconsistent way and without any sort of customizability. I sometimes get these emails, and sometimes don't. JCN let you also choose who to watch and will always send an email when it sees one.
swalsh 13y ago
I had no idea this app existed, but I wish i knew. I've found linkedin to have very noisy notifications. For my contacts job changes are about 90% of what I'm interested in. However its mixed in with wall posts (all recruiters) network connections etc. I've had experiences where I didn't find out about a change until over a year later. Its nice to know if a former coworker has moved, or if a contact at a vendor is no longer working at the place.

redmattred 13y ago

If anyone is looking for an alternative, we have similar service called "Radar" that will send you a weekly update on who has recently switched jobs or gotten promoted. It also predicts who in your network is potentially looking for a new job based on their recent LinkedIn activity. You can sign up for a free account at: http://www.bullhornreach.com http://www.bullhornreach.com