14 DAY TRIAL // Google+, though it may not feel like it, is a quintessential Google product. It launched early, though Google didn't call it a beta like it usually does, and it's been getting new features and updates ever since.
Developers have been eagerly awaiting for the Google+ API and, recently, they got their wish, though the initial release has been rather limited.
But Google is now expanding the range of APIs available to developers, enabling them to use the Google+ search feature and also to retrieve more data around public conversations.
"Thank you to all of you who tried out our first Google+ API release and let us know how you were using it. And thank you also to those of you who asked for more," Jordanna Chord, software engineer on the Google+ API Team, wrote.
"In the spirit of releasing early and often, today we’ve released some of the new features that you requested," she announced.
First up, there is now a Google+ Search API. Developers can now add search functionality to their apps. They can do a general query and search through public comments and posts. They also have the ability to search for people on Google+.
Google is also making it possible to get more info around public posts. They've already been able to get the posts themselves, now they can retrieve activity such as re-sharing, +1's as well as comments.
When Google introduced the Google+ API, all developers could do is retrieve public posts as well as public profile data for users. There is also authorization support, meaning app makers can find out who is running their apps.
So far though, this is just for identification purposes, developers don't get access to any more data than they normally would have.
Google also recently debuted a Hangouts API which enables developers to create apps that will work inside Hangouts. The API is still experimental though and will expand in features and functionality in time.