Google I/O 2010: Google Buzz API

Google Buzz certainly made a splash when it came out, but it wasn’t the kind of attention Google was looking for. The company’s latest crack at the social web proved to be a privacy nightmare and subsequent fixes and changes still haven’t erased those first memories. But Google is in it for the long haul and has unveiled the Google Buzz API, in time for the Google I/O 2010 developer conference.

“The Google Buzz API, a member of the Google Code Labs, is very much a work in progress — we intend to continue to iterate out in the open as we go along — and we hope the features we are making available today will help inspire developers and provide a solid foundation for new applications to be built,” DeWitt Clinton, from the Google Developer Team, wrote.

“This initial iteration of the API includes 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,” he explained.

Google says this is just the first step and more will come in the short term future. Several third-parties had access to the API before the launch and products based on it are already available. Popular social media clients like TweetDeck and Seesmic now have built-in support for Google Buzz. The service will also be integrated with others like Meebo and Boxee.

Twitter is a great example of what a powerful API can do. The service rose dramatically in popularity once developers were able to integrate it with their apps. It’s unclear if Google’s move will do the same for Buzz, but it can’t hurt and having the service in front of more people and making it easier to access should make it more likely for users to pick it up.

Google I/O 2010

- Chrome Web Store
 - WebM, Google’s Open Video Format for HTML5  - WebM - A Technical Overview and Possible Legal Issues  - 

 - Google Wave for Apps and New APIs  - Google Storage for Developers  - Google App Engine for Business and VMWare Partnership  - Android 2.2 Froyo Is Lightning Fast  - Google TV Set to Conquer the Living Room    - Music May be Coming to the Android Marketplace    - YouTube Leanback for Google TV    - Presenting the New Fonts API