How to Get Started with the Twitter API. The Evolution of the Social Media API. This post is part of Mashable’s Social Media series for developers, highlighting handy tips and resources for software developers.
This series is supported by Forum Nokia’s Calling All Innovators competition. Social media services like Twitter, Facebook, and Google have been fundamental pillars for building social graphs, promoting the sharing of information, and fostering innovation. While these companies have created some incredible tools, their greatest innovation may actually be opening up their products to outside developers through the use of the API. The API, or application programming interface, is a way for outside parties to build a product or app off of an existing service. TweetDeck for Twitter, MySpace applications, and Facebook Connect are a few examples of the use of social APIs today. Twitter API Wiki / FrontPage. API Dashboard.