Giant's shoulders are at risk. Do not rely on API calls to build business

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Editor's note: The author of this article is Joseph Puopolo, founder of Printchomp. In his view, many young startups do not have the ability to stand on their feet, API calls have become a crutch, instead of the ability to generate data themselves. There are a number of companies that have been killed or hit dead because of changes in API and terms of service, and Twitter's API changes are a wake-up call, and this article is designed to remind the hermit crab model companies:

I've always been amazed at how many companies are using API calls and building their companies at a big commercial risk. Countless apps, especially social apps, have been caught up in the past two years by grabbing data from other systems and then showing them back in their systems. Although the API is already widely used, I still think the founders of startups have been downplaying the risks of the business.

The risk is clear, and your business will be the same if the data dries up. For most of the API-based apps that have been made, consider what happens when the flow of information is no longer available. The company that provides the API is not necessarily gone, but it will definitely be the one who changed the game. Twitter's API changes are a warning and an important reminder. Countless third-party Twitter apps have found that after the latest 1.1 API protocols are released, important data streams stop or slow down, and their hard work is wiped out. Some people will blame Twitter for this, and complain about how they dare to shut down the flow of information in their communities. But I think a lot of responsibility for this is for developers to take, because they know they can't control it and they use it as a foundation.

In Twitter's developer blog, Michael Sippey directly quotes two examples: Tweetbot and Echofon. "For nearly 18 months, we've instructed developers not to build a client application that mimics or replicates the Twitter mainstream customer experience," Sippey said. Reiterating my previous article, this guidance still applies. "I'm not trying to explain what he's saying here, but to alert startups who build their business on the API," he said.

If your startup has the potential to cut throat due to changes in terms of service or API changes, you should not cover up the risks inherent in the company. At the same time as you remove the risk from your company, you should also consider what the real value you can give the user. In many cases (especially in the case of social applications), some apps are simply a cloak for a new interface based on Twitter or Facebook information.

On the contrary, there are some companies that are stunning to be part of the ecosystem while also allowing their functions to seamlessly connect more applications. The best example of this is the number of signals. They build and integrate many other useful applications. They allow for the free flow of vital business information between different systems. For other companies or applications, the trouble is that they rely only on an API to depend on other people's ecosystems and put the data they generate on their systems.

Perhaps my proposal will be a bit outdated: your application needs to provide some additional value beyond the use of API calls and subsequent data. You should create your own processes, allow users to contribute data to your system, and encourage them to become active users in your system (through your system's personal account). Your system needs to stand on its own feet. For many young startups, API calls have become a crutch, replacing their ability to generate data.

For many entrepreneurs, it takes a lot of soul searching to create products that people are interested in and use. Just because you can make an API call and post a seemingly new user interface, you can't do a real business.