Yahoo has released an API for Meme, the company’s microblogging service, which is still in beta. If you’re not familiar with Meme, it’s kind of like Yahoo’s version of Twitter, minus the enormous amount of hype.
Meme was only available in Portuguese and Spanish before becoming available in English to those who received invites at the beginning of September. With the API, developers can harness the power of Meme to create applications and mashups.
The Meme API is built on top of the Yahoo Query Language (YQL) platform. Yahoo says the API can easily be used to create mashups with other products built on YQL. Yahoo itself used the API to build the mobile version of Meme for smartphones.
Yahoo says Meme allows people to:
– Post their own content and repost the content of others that they find interesting
– One-Click reposts for simple and easy publishing
– Follow other Meme users and comment on their posts
– Remove content from their Meme including previous updates, reposts, comments, etc.
– Check out the most popular posts
– Consume and create content via their mobile devices
– Content limits are up to 2,000 characters and up to 7MB per photo
The jury is still out on whether or not Meme will be a success for Yahoo. Availability will have to open up more for one thing. The API would certainly be a step in the right direction, the real question is do people need another Twitter? If Yahoo can promote the service among loyal Yahoo users, perhaps it can do well, but with Yahoo’s new homepage, which can incorporate other social networks users are already a part of, are they going to be worried about becoming a part of the Meme community too? I guess we’ll see.
