Wondering what the deal is with these “apps” on Facebook or LinkedIn?  Or perhaps like me up until recently, Facebook apps are old hat while LinkedIn’s offerings are more unknown.  Well, firstly, app is short for application.  An application in the social networking context is an extra, optional element to include in your profile.  It adds functionality beyond the core information displayed about you and your activity on a particular site.  Apps often bring external information into your profile, and this is where they are arguably most useful.  For instance, if you or your company has a blog, you can display its feed on your Facebook or LinkedIn profile.

On Facebook at least, there are myriad other kinds of applications.  This is because Facebook has opened itself up to external development of applications, meaning that anyone can create an app and have it made available with a minimal set of hurdles.  So there are all kinds of Facebook apps, from the fun to the useful to the annoying and completely useless.  Facebook, while keeping its democratic low bar of entry for app development, has recently created a directory where they list applications that they have reviewed and vetted.  This gives you a filtered portal into Facebook applications which may be more likely to be of actual use to you.  Check it out via the Applications link in the lower left hand corner of your Facebook page, then click Browse More Applications at the bottom of that menu:

LinkedIn’s approach to applications is a little different, in that they make applications available that they specifically approve of.  It is a similar approach that Apple takes with its app store for the iPhone, although LinkedIn seems even more selective than that.  They partner with reputable developers to bring applications to their site with a specific business productivity and networking focus.  In fact there are actually only nine current LinkedIn applications available, which you can browse here.  Many of them allow various kinds of document sharing on your profile, such as display of Powerpoint presentations.  And that is a great way to incorporate a sort of rich testimonial to yourself, if you have interesting and informative presentations that demonstrate your value as a professional.

As I mentioned earlier, applications which display your own blog’s content on your profile are another excellent way to add external and dynamic content to your profile.  LinkedIn has two applications for blog incorporation.  Blog Link works for all types of blogs, and also aggregates blog feeds from your contacts who have blogs listed on their profile regardless of if they use this app or not.  Although my only two contacts with blogs listed are my coworkers who link to the same Astek blog.  Plus I had some difficulty getting this app to display our blog on my profile.  So I went with the WordPress-specific one since that is the technology our blog runs on.  Setting it up is as simple as clicking the Update Settings button on the app page:

Then pasting in your WordPress blog’s URL when prompted.  Check it out in action by going to my public profile here, then clicking View Full Profile.

If you want to use your Facebook or LinkedIn profile for any kind of active networking, and especially if you have external content such as a blog, you should be incorporating applications on your profiles.  They’re simple, effective, and everybody else is using them.  So get to app-in’!

This post was featured in ePiphany, Astek’s Monthly Newsletter | Other ePiphany Articles

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Andrew Crowe Categories: ePiphany Featured Story, Marketing, Social Media, Technology, Web