It took a while, but Pownce—the pedigreed microblogging and filesharing service launched last summer—now has an API:
Hey developers! We’re so excited to now have a Pownce API where you can create fun stuff with Pownce. Hacks, mashups, and widgets, oh my!
Right now you can get lists of public notes, user profiles, and individual notes with replies. We’ll soon be adding the ability to post notes and get friends-only or private notes. Check out the API documentation to find out more details.
The Pownce blog also recommends joining the Pownce API Google Group to share project ideas, ask questions, and give feedback. Developers can post their tools on the wiki.
Meebo, a unifying group chat tool, is also making some news with an announcement that they have released their own platform. From TechCrunch:
Like Facebook Platform and the recently announced MySpace Platform it consists of a set of APIs to give developers access certain user features and information. Developers will be able to include Flash applets and Javascript snippets within the applications.
The Meebo platform is not open, however. Meebo will sell ads into the applications directly and split revenue evenly with the application developers, who out of the box will be limited to Tokbox (video chat), Talkshoe (conference calls), Ustream (lifecasting) and Pudding Media (peer computing VOIP). Developers will be able to showcase their mashups using the API on November 22, and the applications approved by Meebo will be the only ones allowed to launch.
For Pownce, it will be interesting to see if the late addition of an API can help catch up to the half million avid users in the Twitter community, or if developers take the service in a completely different direction. Meebo is more exciting, as there is a potential killer application lurking. They are just a few notification tools away from rocking the Internet.
