When Google Buzz launched back in February of this year, it was initially met with intrigue which soon turned to concern as users became wary of the privacy concerns of mixing their email contacts with their social stream. Today at Google I/O, the Big G is hoping to take Buzz to the next level by introducing an application programming interface (API) which will allow third-party app developers to build native Buzz apps or integrate it with existing services.
Twitter saw its use skyrocket with the introduction of a public API, and Google Buzz could see similar growth with its integration into popular web apps and services. Google accrued an impressive list of beta testers before announcing the API, including TweetDeck, Seesmic, Ping.fm, Plancast and Boxee. Fans of Buzz will soon be able to access their streams as easily as they do Twitter feeds, and will be able to post information directly to Buzz from web services that use the API.
Google is taking the earlier privacy concerns surrounding Buzz to heart with their API releases today, making sure to note the control users will have over which applications can access which data. When an application wants to access the Buzz API, users will be taken to a page where they can determine which level of access they want to grant the app.
The Google Code Blog outlined the features the API currently supports today, including “support for fetching public per-user activity feeds, fetching authorized and authenticated per-user activity feeds, […] searching over public updates, […] posting new updates, […] posting comments, liking updates, retrieving and updating profiles and social graphs, and more.”
Will a Buzz API give the service a much-needed shot in the arm and help ease its earlier privacy concerns? Only time will tell, but it seems like an open invitation to develop third-party applications is a wise and logical next step.
