New API Stories in 2013

by Kin Lane on 12/27/2012

Storytelling in the API industry is critical to the healthy growth of the space. John Musser and ProgrammableWeb have been telling great stories in the tech industry, since way before APIs were all lthe rage they are now.

While I was at API Days this year, I was speaking with Mike Amundsen (@mamund) of Layer7, and we started talking about how Amazon, Netflix (and I’d add Twilio) tend to dominate the API discussion. I considered my talks from API Days, and sure enough--Netflix and Amazon were in there multiple times!

There are other stories we tell around Twitter, Facebook Google and other smaller APIs, but Amazon, Netflix and Twilio were cornerstones of API folklore in 2012. While I will keep telling these pillar stories (because they matter), as well as evolving other pioneers from my history of APIs section, I want to develop a fresh lineup of amazing API stories for 2013.

Stories like Johnson Control's, Panoptix API, and how a 125 year old company can change their culture and embrace a new way of doing business via APIs.

I will make sure there is easy access to the classic Amazon, Netflix and Twilio API stories. I will also be adding new versions of some other classic stories from Salesforce, eBay, Flickr and other API pioneers. But in 2013 I will be working to find a new set of API stories from brands and companies we know.

If you have an API success story you’d like to share, please let me know.