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Will Google+ Ever Get A Full Read/Write API?

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Re: Will Google+ Ever Get A Full Read/Write API?

#21

Post by jacquesm »

rodion_89 wrote: post #18
epoxyhockey wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been 1.5 years. How much slower can they get, especially with being so far behind the curve in launch time? The write API is necessary for blogs to auto-post new articles to G+. Auto-posting blog entries are standard operating procedure for Facebook and Twitter and greatly assist in seeding social networks with content (which users can then comment on and like/+1/favorite). They way I see it is that G+ is either…

FYI, it took Facebook 2.5 years to release the first version of their API.

When you want to compete in the marketplace you don't get to re-do your competitors time-frame when they rolled out. You get to play by the rules of today.

So whether it took Facebook an hour, a decade or 2.5 years to roll out their API, right now they've got one and right now google is trying to compete with Facebook through their g+ offering.

Re: Will Google+ Ever Get A Full Read/Write API?

#22

Post by jacquesm »

ihsw wrote: post #12
garuda wrote: post #7

Openness seems to be a guiding principle for Google. It seems inconceivable that they want to keep it closed to the web forever, so we can probably take their statements about protecting it until they understand how to protect it's unique attributes at face value.

Google has an awful history with regards to communication with developers and communication with customers (read: very few public APIs and terrible customer service).

And they tend to shut down their APIs (or even whole projects) just when you start to think they're going to be reliable this time around.

Re: Will Google+ Ever Get A Full Read/Write API?

#23

Post by richardw »

shadowmint wrote: post #20
JPKab wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EVERY SINGLE TIME I see Google + mentioned, I see some user who says "every time I log in it's a ghost town." Which is funny, because when I log in I see a constant stream of activity. Google+ isn't Facebook, so it won't act like Facebook. When someone you don't really care about sends you a friend request on FB, you accept it so you don't offend them, and then you are stuck looking at their crap in your feed. Google…

It's a use thing. I'm following the majority of my family and friends on google plus (yes, wow, they all have accounts) and not following any of the I'm-using-this-as-a-blog accounts like hacker news, google developers, etc. When I login, what do I see? "Nov 15, 2012 - Shared from +1 - Public" The previous one? "Oct 12, 2012 - Google Mail - Public" So I mean, it's not like no one is using it at all, but no one I care…

G+ is long-form Twitter with a few mods. There are definitely people on it that would interest you, but they won't come to you.

Family-and-friends are on FB already, so using G+ for the same thing will be disappointing for years unless you have a very active set of friends. I keep FB private, G+ public. I have a few Twitter accounts for different apps, but I mostly consume lightly.

Re: Will Google+ Ever Get A Full Read/Write API?

#24

Post by loceng »

jacquesm wrote: post #21
rodion_89 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI, it took Facebook 2.5 years to release the first version of their API.

When you want to compete in the marketplace you don't get to re-do your competitors time-frame when they rolled out. You get to play by the rules of today. So whether it took Facebook an hour, a decade or 2.5 years to roll out their API, right now they've got one and right now google is trying to compete with Facebook through their g+ offering.

Why not? Why are they rushed? They're trying to displace a competitor who was first to market. It's not going to work the same way, so quickly rushing out to make an API isn't an automatic assumption to be made relating to if it will help you be successful. Keeping higher quality content in G+ seems to be their current goal - whether that means there's currently less content overall initially, I imagine they're quite aware of their overall analytics.

Re: Will Google+ Ever Get A Full Read/Write API?

#25

Post by dannyr »

jacquesm wrote: post #22
ihsw wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has an awful history with regards to communication with developers and communication with customers (read: very few public APIs and terrible customer service).

And they tend to shut down their APIs (or even whole projects) just when you start to think they're going to be reliable this time around.

So why do you think then that they should offer a Write API? Shouldn't they put a lot of thought on their API offering so it won't be shut down in the future?

Re: Will Google+ Ever Get A Full Read/Write API?

#26

Post by neumann_alfred »

loceng wrote: post #24
jacquesm wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you want to compete in the marketplace you don't get to re-do your competitors time-frame when they rolled out. You get to play by the rules of today. So whether it took Facebook an hour, a decade or 2.5 years to roll out their API, right now they've got one and right now google is trying to compete with Facebook through their g+ offering.

Why not? Why are they rushed? They're trying to displace a competitor who was first to market. It's not going to work the same way, so quickly rushing out to make an API isn't an automatic assumption to be made relating to if it will help you be successful. Keeping higher quality content in G+ seems to be their current goal - whether that means there's currently less content overall initially, I imagine they're quite…

Keeping higher quality content in G+ seems to be their current goal

That must be why ads for G+ are never ever about sharing little silly things with your friends... no wait, they're actually trying their hardest. It's just adoption sucks, so people rationalize it. That's how I see it, anyway.

Re: Will Google+ Ever Get A Full Read/Write API?

#27

Post by waitwhat »

epoxyhockey wrote: post #6
loceng wrote: post #2

I think it's wiser to open up slower rather than being fully open, and then be forced to do what Twitter is doing for the stability / integrity of the network. And preventing noise and low quality content just makes sense. The quality of posts I see on Facebook has been slowly diminishing over the years - even with their "improved" algorithms, even when I've unsubscribed from a lot of people who just post uninteresti…

It's been 1.5 years. How much slower can they get, especially with being so far behind the curve in launch time? The write API is necessary for blogs to auto-post new articles to G+. Auto-posting blog entries are standard operating procedure for Facebook and Twitter and greatly assist in seeding social networks with content (which users can then comment on and like/+1/favorite). They way I see it is that G+ is either…

It's not at all clear that having exactly the same content on G+ as on Facebook is a winning strategy for Google.

The twitter-clones tried this approach, encouraging content-"seeding" with a full r/w API. What actually happened is that they (nearly?) all ended up as networks full of bots spamming each other with duplicate content.

And it's hard to sell advertising when your only users are robots.

Re: Will Google+ Ever Get A Full Read/Write API?

#28

Post by maxwell »

dannyr wrote: post #8
epoxyhockey wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been 1.5 years. How much slower can they get, especially with being so far behind the curve in launch time? The write API is necessary for blogs to auto-post new articles to G+. Auto-posting blog entries are standard operating procedure for Facebook and Twitter and greatly assist in seeding social networks with content (which users can then comment on and like/+1/favorite). They way I see it is that G+ is either…

Remember what happened with Google Buzz? It's pretty much a mirror of a user's Twitter/Facebook stream. My Google+ network doesn't have much activity relative to Twitter/FB but I still visit it once a day because the content is mostly unique, not the same ones I see on my Facebook and Twitter streams.

Good points. I visit more or less daily too; for me it's more about the quality of the content than the uniqueness, since there's little overlap between who I follow on each. I only visit Facebook maybe once a week and Twitter once a month or so.

For me, G+ is where I post things I find interesting, usually links and thoughts to a relatively limited audience of real-life friends and acquaintances, and sometimes tech-related thoughts to my Hackers circle.

At this point I only use FB for a) chatting with people whose phone number / email address I don't have, and b) to keep in touch with and get updates from more distant family/friends (e.g. "that waitress I worked with a few years ago got engaged-- best wishes!", "it's my buddy's college roommate's birthday-- let's go get a beer in Portland sometime this summer!")

And I only use Twitter to read jokes from wannabe comedians and publicly bitch about corporations...

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