As Google Buzz begins to reach a good stride, it’s opened its firehose API . This will make all public Buzz posts available to third party developers. The release comes alongside other new APIs Google’s made available for Buzz, including Buzz Mood. Powered by PubSubHubBub, the open code offering will encourage more apps to be developed around the tool.
Google Buzz got off to a bumpy start, taking advantage of its existing user connections to quickly gain traction. That was slowed drastically when Google had to switch gears, particularly as this happened in the upswing of Facebook’s privacy backlash.
In order to get back up to speed, Google must find ways to personalize Buzz to create more value around the tool. As with most products Google launches, the personalization around a tool like Buzz can occur through a number of different Google access points. Encouraging third parties to also personalize Google Buzz for consumers will expedite this cause.
And what becomes more valuable to consumers must soon become more valuable to brands. Creating a market for apps around Google Buzz also generates marketing channels for brands to tap. From Ars Technica,
“Several companies are already using the feed to pull data into their own products. One of the launch partners is real-time search company OneRiot, which now includes messages from Google Buzz in its search results… The source code has been made available to help third-party developers get started on their own firehose-enabled Buzz applications.”
Launch partner OneRiot has been well aware of the marketing power behind the real-time web. It’s created its own monetization tools around its real-time search and distribution channels, arriving at the gravy train early. FourSquare has also been quick to seek revenue around its collections of data, shopping major search engines, including Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. Its services are already important to brands like Mattel, which has launched a Barbie scavenger hunt on Foursquare this week.
One thing all these parties have in common is their follow-up moves behind Twitter. Having gotten more aggressive in its efforts to monetize its real-time activity, Twitter has launched an ad network, grown its mobile app presence, made deals with major search engines and supported (and grown from) a massive third party network of apps.
Since Twitter’s made it easier for the rest, more offerings along the lines of Google Buzz’s firehose API will carve out more marketing channels for reaching consumers in the way they want to be reached. This drives the need for more analytics and metrics for aggregating data across the expanding platforms, addressing the needs of tomorrow’s companies (marketing and enterprise).
