LinkedIn API Coming

I just saw this recent article covering LinkedIn.com’s accouncement that they will be offering an API.  Xing and ZoomInfo are also partnering to connect their networks.  And all this on the heels of Facebook’s launch of their F8 API.  With all of these social/professional networks opening up, there is going to be a real need for standards.  I can already see a war developing to impose a proprietary API as the platform, but that’s not going to work given the many existing large players and the current fragmentation the market is undergoing.  As mentioned earlier, it’s really time for a standards body to form or step in.