Gnip: scaling API requests with ease Jul07 '08
I've always had an internal debate (OK, sometimes it's external) over JavaScript and Flash "widgets" that sites let you embed onto other sites.
Benefits are it's an easy way to quickly provide cross-network content, with minimal development skills required.
Drawbacks are that widgets often look tacky, and can sometimes break your page layout. They also slow page loading because if the server to be reached is slow or down, it affects the sites you embed onto.
Rather than using the pre-built widgets that some sites allow, I've become accustomed to grabbing that same content via the RSS feed. In a sense, I parse the RSS feed using a server-side language (PHP, in my case), then spit it out onto my site, all the while keeping the content appearance as if it's coming from my own database.
I find this approach more flexible, but I still ache from the page loading problem. The content still has to be accessed from another server, which could potentially be down. (Let's face it, in Twitter's case, being down is a frequent occurrence.)
Service like Gnip intrigue me, because supposedly it can handle the overload of API requests without hiccup. This is a fascinating idea that I'd like to see become a reality, with all the cross-network stuff going on these days.
Consider Gnip the Amazon S3 of API requests. Gnip scales with your application.
Imagine a world where data can be smoothly passed back and forth from one network/server to another without latency or throttling. This would benefit everyone involved: developers, application creators, and users.
Categories: API 
, Development , Gnip , Networks
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