SOCIAL NETWORK TOOLS
FOR YOUR BUSINESS
Angela Bartels (@rackcloud) and Randy Bear
(@RBearSAT)

What is an API?
 Stands for Application Programming Interface
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_programmin
g_interface
 Way to leverage the platforms (Facebook, Twitter,
Rackspace Cloud, etc.) through any application
using the API
 Facebook and Twitter provide the platform, the
crowd provides the cool applications

Why are APIs important
 Lets you leverage the social media channels without
loosing the user
 Leverages the “trust” factor through social media
 Increases personalization and customization
 Easily reaches out to a large audience
 Facebook – 250 million users, grows “an Austin” every
day (source: Inside Facebook)
 Twitter – 25 million users, 100 million by 2010 (source:
Twitter)

APIs, widgets and social media
 A way to connect to the social media platform
without leaving your application or site
 Facebook and Twitter provide the documentation
 Provides more flexibility for your business
 They make it easy with examples
 Twitter API (http://apiwiki.twitter.com/)
 Facebook Connect
(http://developers.facebook.com/connect.php)
 YouTube
(http://code.google.com/apis/youtube/overview.html)

Twitter API
 Allows integration of Twitter with your application
 Twitpic
 Tweet Congress
 Twitter provides OAUTH to log you into Twitter
without you seeing the credentials
 http://apiwiki.twitter.com/OAuth-FAQ
 You can also build your own applications using the
Twitter API
 TweetDeck
 Seesmic

Facebook Connect
 Easily let users share content with a link or button
 Sample insertion
 Easily let users log into your site using Facebook
credentials
 Leverage a user’s data for a richer experience
 Allow visitors to share info with other Facebook
friends

Examples
 Netflix – Facebook Connect
 USA Today – Facebook Connect
 Rackspace Cloud blog – Twitter API
 Tweet Congress – Twitter API
 Share This – Twitter API