LinkedIn is one of the largest social media platforms for professionals around the world. It has over 740 million active users, making it a goldmine for businesses looking to find leads, potential hires, or even new business opportunities.
While LinkedIn offers its own set of tools to search for users and companies, it may not always provide the specific data that businesses need to achieve their objectives. As a result, many businesses turn to web scraping or LinkedIn data scraping tools to gather the information they need.
What is LinkedIn Data Scraping?
LinkedIn data scraping is the process of extracting data from LinkedIn profiles, companies, and groups using automated software. This data can include a wide range of information, such as a user's name, job title, company, location, and contact information, among other things.
Web scraping tools are faster and more efficient, allowing businesses to gather a large amount of data in a short amount of time. By using web scraping tools, businesses can save time and resources as they don't have to spend hours manually searching for the data they need.
Is LinkedIn Data Scraping Legal?
LinkedIn's terms of service prohibit the use of automated software to access its platform and prohibit the scraping of data from its platform. However, the legality of web scraping in general is a complicated issue that varies from country to country and depends on various factors.
In the United States, web scraping is generally legal, but it can be considered a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act if the scraper obtains information from a website that is protected by authentication or authorization protocols. LinkedIn is a password-protected site, so scraping data from LinkedIn using automated software could be considered a violation of the CFAA.
It's also worth noting that LinkedIn has taken legal action against companies that engage in data scraping from its platform. In 2019, LinkedIn was granted a preliminary injunction against HiQ Labs, a data analytics firm that was scraping data from LinkedIn profiles. The case is still ongoing, but it shows that LinkedIn is willing to take legal action to protect its platform.
While the legality of LinkedIn data scraping is a gray area, it's important for businesses to proceed with caution and to ensure that they are not violating LinkedIn's terms of service or any applicable laws.
LinkedIn Data Scraping: Scrape user profiles with Tapicker
Tapicker is a popular web scraping tool that can be used to extract data from various websites, including LinkedIn. With Tapicker, you can scrape LinkedIn profiles, extract information such as job titles, skills, and education, and save the data in a structured format such as a CSV or Excel file.
To use Tapicker to scrape LinkedIn data, follow these steps:
-
Install Tapicker in your browser
Tapicker is a browser extension that works on Chrome and Edge. Therefore, you can install Tapicker at one click on Chrome Web Store or Edge Add-ons.
-
Find a recipe called @official/linkedin-profile
Open the Tapicker extension and find a recipe called @official/linkedin-profile in Public Recipes.
Note: You need to log in to linkedin before starting the recipe
-
Start the recipe
Hover the mouse on the recipe card, then click the "Crawl" button to open the startup panel, and click the "Start" button.
It only takes 3 steps to easily take LinkedIn's user information, which is a good news for people who do not understand IT technology!
Can I scrape multiple LinkedIn Profile in batches?
Of course, you only need to provide multiple profile links to scrape them in batches, just like this:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamhgates/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-jassy-8b1615/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/riteshagar/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jembradshaw/
View and export structured data
We have successfully captured the user information of LinkedIn and let us view the data.
Each data block is stored flat in multiple tables, and you can combine them freely.
-
@official.linkedin-profile#profile
-
@official.linkedin-profile#activity
-
@official.linkedin-profile#experience
-
@official.linkedin-profile#education
Can I use Tapicker for free?
Yes, you can! Tapicker's free plan is beginner-friendly, and you get access to 90%+ of its features.
For more information please refer to page Price.
Can I scrape other social media besides LinkedIn?
Social media scraping is totally OK, for example: Twitter Scraping, Facebook Scraping, Scraping Instagram, etc. are no problem.
Nevertheless, you should not violate their terms of service or any applicable laws.
Conclusion
LinkedIn data scraping can be a valuable tool for businesses looking to gather data on their target audience. With Tapicker, you can easily extract data from LinkedIn profiles and save it in a structured format for analysis. However, it's important to follow best practices and to respect the privacy of LinkedIn users. By doing so, you can use web scraping tools like Tapicker to gain valuable insights and make informed decisions for your business.