SleepyEgg

Google unveiled new APIs for its Buzz social networking service on Wednesday during a presentation at the company's I/O developer conference. The new APIs will make it possible for third-party developers to write software—such as desktop and mobile client applications—that can read and post content on Buzz. The Buzz APIs are built on top of open standards to enable broad compatibility with other services.

Google's Chris Chabot started the session by describing Google's vision for social networking. The Web is becoming increasingly social, he explained, but social networking is heavily fragmented due to the multitude of disparate services that are popular among users. Google hopes to unify social networking and make it a pervasive part of the Internet experience, but not at the cost of diversity and rich competition in the marketplace. The solution, said Chabot, is to facilitate interoperability through open standards. He said that Google wants Buzz to be part of a bigger ecosystem, one that includes a healthy quantity of good third-party software.