Providing an API, even a limited one, proven to increase user adoption
Monday, August 13th, 2007
In these days of open source, crowd-sourcing, and peer production (read Wikinomics if the last two terms get your juices flowing) software developers are embracing the almost infinite development power of the crowd - that crowd being the tens and hundreds of thousands of smart developers around the world. Its rapidly being recognized that no matter how big your development team you cannot compete with the almost limitless external resource. Social media technologies, email, IM, VoIP and the like are making collaboration even easier, allowing previously unconnected developers to self-organize into powerful competitive teams.
Facebook launched its API and benefitted from the mass of new Facebook apps that drew new users, media buzz, and yet more users. Here is a great piece from Mashable about the new Pownce (limited) API:
IMified, the tool that lets you interact with web applications via your instant messaging client, has created a Pownce add-on.
The first add-on of its kind, IMified has taken advantage of the limited Pownce API offering to integrate it with its host of services. This brings you full instant messaging support for your Pownce account, enabling you to post messages, links and events. You can also get instant messenger notifications for new messages that have been posted to your Pownce account. In a sense, this also makes Pownce even more of a micro-blogging tool that resembles Twitter, which already has instant messaging integration.
In related news, Pownce has announced its upcoming public API, which will aim to address the concerns and requests brought forth by the developers community. We’ll be sure to see even more mashups as a result.
IM is fast becoming the preferred communications means for the new generation. As postal mail was to my generation (old, slow) so is email to this generation (old, slow, no instant feedback, spam overload). Here is Mashables roundup of IM tools, everything from webpage IM widgets, to single IM clients, to multi-IM clients, to mobile IM.