LinkedIn Share API Response is returning an updateUrl which when visited goes to a page not found

Question

I have an application which is successfully sharing to LinkedIn as per the official documentation here:

https://developer.linkedin.com/docs/share-on-linkedin

When I get a 201 created response the content is being shared to LinkedIn which is great...but in the response under the updateUrl property the URL I always get is bringing back a page not found URL, for example:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/3728030/comments?topic=6368780249068507136&type=U&scope=3728030&stype=C&a=_YH0

When I visit the actual post on LinkedIn and get the post URL it gets this: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6368780249068507136

and this URL actually works. In the documentation it says:

The updateURL value is a direct link to the newly shared content on LinkedIn.com that you can direct the user's web browser to.

I have tried this on multiple LinkedIn accounts and I am getting the same issue. I could parse my updateUrl property and transform it into a working URL but as per the documentation I shouldn't have to do this and it seems like a bug...

Answer 1

The same thing applies to newly created company shares: https://developer.linkedin.com/docs/company-pages#company_share

The returned value is e.g. { "updateKey": "UPDATE-c111111-11111111", "updateUrl": "https://www.linkedin.com/company/111111/comments?topic=11111111&type=U&scope=18464510&stype=C&a=ls_e" }

That URL directs you to a non-existing page. For proper use, the "updateKey" needs to be parsed and the link manually created e.g. "https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:11111111"

Note, the URLs and keys are changed.

I'm also wondering the purpose of the "updateUrl", since its undocumented on company shares, and seemingly misleading on shares documentation.

Thanks :)