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Afrigator: Give us an API!!

Note for non-techies: Basically the short version is that I am suggesting that Afrigator provide the ability for third-party developers to extend its functionality and integrate it into their own applications like Twitter and many other web services.

I'm up in Botswana with Neville at the moment and it's going pretty hectic so please consider this an update "from the road". :)

Basically the idea is that I need to give one idea that I would like to see implemented in Afrigator according to Mike's post so here we go.

Obviously I would like to see a lot of things relating to the semantic web, more Microformats integration, FOAF/RDF, OPML, etc.

A Facebook application that allows you to link up your Facebook Profile with your Afrigator account and syndicate your blog posts to your Facebook profile would also be cool. You could have messages popping up in your Minilog when you post something new and even an Afrigator box on your profile listing your blogs. This means you don't need to use another service to pull in your RSS/Atom feeds separately. You add each of your blogs in Afrigator and that automatically reflects on your Facebook profile.

Also, I know they have OpenID going, but how do I log in using it? What is the trick?

A better search feature... now that would be cool. For example, let's say somebody types in "charl van niekerk", they should get a list of all my blogs. At the moment they will just get crap. So some intelligence there would be awesome.

And what about some XMPP integration. Syndicate stuff over it, save a lot of bandwidth because you're using a push technology and not a pull technology. Cover Jabber, Google Talk, Fring, Yeigo, MXit, all in one go with an open standard like XMPP. Then if a new entry gets posted on one of your favourite blogs, you immediately get an instant message as soon as Afrigator detects it! This could even work for other protocols like MSN, IRC and perhaps Skype.

But now hold on for a second... That is already quite a list. I need to pick one thing that I would like to see. I don't like compromising here so I managed to figure it out. What I want is a full API.

But, why? Well, let's think about Twitter. The service itself is dead simple. It's almost frightening to think how little functionality it offers relative to something like Jaiku. So then, why is it so popular? Well stuff Twitter, that's just a base platform. I almost never go to twitter.com and use the actual site unless I'm changing my account details.

The nice thing about Twitter is that there are a huge amount of third-party applications built around its API. You have an idea, a feature you would like to see in Twitter? No problem, you write your own system that integrates with the Twitter API and you can have whatever you like - the sky is the limit.

So in other words, I don't need to beg and wait them to implement stuff. I can go and do it myself.

Ok, so WTF has this got to do with Afrigator? Simple: if they follow Twitter's lead and get a good powerful API going, then I can go and create my own mashups myself. I can go and hack some code together to do whatever I like. Also, lots of the stuff that I mentioned at the start of this post.

So the choice is obvious. I picked my one thing: an API. Twitter's success can largely be attributed to it I believe, and I'm sure this will work for Afrigator as well.

So, come on Stii, what do I need to bribe you with? Coffee? Beer? Pizza??? ;)

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Afrigator: Give us an API!!

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