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I noticed that using LinkedIn REST API in my application, i have a strange behaviour

(I'm using Bill Gates as example, but it works like this for every name)

1st REST url request:

http://api.linkedin.com/v1/people-search:(people:(id))?first-name=bill&last-name=gates

returns 110 results

2nd REST url request:

http://api.linkedin.com/v1/people-search:(people:(id))?keywords=bill%20gates

returns 0 result

But, according to API documentation (https://developer.linkedin.com/documents/people-search-api), the second search should return at least the 110 "bill gates" returned with the former request, plus eventually other people with some "Bill Gates" string inside their profile ("bill gates" in industry or school name, etc.)

Am i doing something wrong with my second request or what?

UPDATE: Here is a screenshot of the 2nd request, done by using the LinkedIn REST Console. I would like to know if anyone but me is getting 110 results by replicating that request ...

General Grievance
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alessiop86
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    Have you tested these queries on the [LinkedIn REST console](http://developer.linkedinlabs.com/rest-console/)? They both return 110 results for me. How are you encoding the endpoints? Is it possible that you are feeding in the encoded space, which is being re-encoded, thus turning the `%` into `%25`? – Unpossible Sep 03 '12 at 15:00
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    @PaulMennega I used http://developer.linkedin.com/oauth-test-console, a lot of attempts, and it always returned 0 results. I'm gonna try the console you linked as soon as I get home – alessiop86 Sep 04 '12 at 14:50
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    @PaulMennega I used your link, but I'm still getting 0 results, screenshot at http://postimage.org/image/c23ds2wvx/. Did you put the same query string as me in your test? – alessiop86 Sep 04 '12 at 19:39
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    Just re-tried it and it worked for me - when you attempt to run the same bill gates query using the same account on LinkedIn.com you get results? Looks like it might be a bug, may want to post it in the [Developer's Forums](https://developer.linkedin.com/forums/rest) – Unpossible Sep 04 '12 at 19:54
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    If I use Linkedin.com web search it works. I have tried with the [support forum](https://developer.linkedin.com/forum/search-person-first-name-and-last-name-versus-search-person-keywords) 1 week ago, but nobody answered me. The account I'm using for the test is "basic", but it should work anyway... – alessiop86 Sep 05 '12 at 08:40
  • That about using `keywords=bill+gates` instead keywords=bill%20gates? – rogal111 Sep 12 '12 at 11:27
  • @rogal111 I'm sure i tried all the possibilities, "+", " ", "%20" – alessiop86 Sep 13 '12 at 15:10
  • Can you provide more detail? This works fine for me - I get 110 and 110. Which does seem weird. – selllikesybok Sep 13 '12 at 18:11
  • @selllikesybok Do you have a free Account or a premium account of LinkedIn? I provided the details in here http://postimage.org/image/c23ds2wvx/ – alessiop86 Sep 14 '12 at 19:58
  • Does this api still works? i am getting error as 403 when i am using user OAuth on rest console . – Amit Parpiyani Jul 16 '15 at 15:23
  • I am sorry @AmitParpiyani I do not know, I have not used that API for over 2 years – alessiop86 Jul 17 '15 at 08:12

1 Answers1

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I have found out the 0 results is related to my network: I don't have any first or second degree connection with someone named Bill Gates.

The keyword search works inside your network, searching for first and second degree connections, meanwhile the first-name/last-name search works outside it, so my results are not 0 with the latter.

alessiop86
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    Sorry, didn't see your reply until today, but yes, this is what I thought would be the case. Depends on the network of the authenticated user. Non-API LinkedIn search is something I do multiple times per day. Didn't know about the API test tools, though, so that's a neat tip. – selllikesybok Sep 24 '12 at 20:05