14 DAY TRIAL // Google has finally released the first Google+ APIs. Developers have been clamoring for this ever since Google+ launched and there has been quite an interest in ways of interacting with the data, the social structure and the identity provided by Google+.
At long last, Google has delivered, but don't get your hopes up too high, the first three API methods are rather basic, cover only public data and are read only.
Basically, you'll be able to get public profile info as well as public posts from any Google+ user. There is also the possibility of authenticating the app, to get data on a specific user.
"Today, we’re taking the next step on that journey by launching the first of the Google+ APIs," Chris Chabot, Google+ Developer Relations, announced.
"This initial API release is focused on public data only — it lets you read information that people have shared publicly on Google+," he explained.
You can use HTTP GET requests to retrieve the data you need, as a JSON object, for now, there are three available requests, for profile data, for a list of posts and for a specific post.
You don't have to use raw requests, rather, you can use any of the libraries Google has provided for Java, GWT, Python, Ruby, PHP, Objective-C and .NET.
The libraries are open source, so you can incorporate them into your projects as well as modify and enhance them.
"Because we’re starting with public data only, you simply need to register your app before making requests. And if you aren't yet sure which Google+ user is running your app (for example, because they're installing it for the first time), then you can use the new plus.me OAuth2 scope to ask the user who they are," Chabot explained.
Google says this is just the first release, it will allow developers to do a lot more in time. You can expect write access at some point as well as the possibility of using Circles data.