Analyzing LinkedIn Data using PowerBI

LinkedIn is another source of data for some interesting data analytics using Power BI. The LinkedIn APIs enable you to access a lot of the LinkedIn data. I have found the easiest way to generate the query string for Power Query is by using the API Console from Apigee.com.

A quick example that I tried was to get a list of people with Big Data skills. In order to do this, I used the LinkedIn API Console at Apigee.com: https://apigee.com/console/linkedin

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I selected OAuth2 in the authentication window and signed in with my LinkedIn account:

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I then used the Search People API method for experimenting with LinkedIn.

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I used “Big Data” in the key words field to get a list of people with the term “Big Data” anywhere in their profile. I set the count parameter to the max: 25.

I then copy the query string which looks like this:

https://api.linkedin.com/v1/people-search?keywords=%22Big%20Data%22\&count=25\&sort=connections

and add the access token shown in the Request window:

https://api.linkedin.com/v1/people-search?keywords=%22Big%20Data%22\&count=25\&sort=connections &oauth2_access_token=YourToken

I then copy and use this query string in Power Query for Excel 2013:

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This returns a table in the Query Editor. Click on Table:

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And you will see a list of names:

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There are some interesting possibilities here with providing drill down data when you click on a company name or skill set to view a list of contacts from LinkedIn for that skill or company. As I build out a complete use case, I would love to hear your ideas on interesting use cases for this data in combination with other data.