If You Build It (an API), They Will Come

by Kin Lane on 02/28/2011

One of the goals of any API is to catch the attention of developers and become a tool they depend on and integrate regularly into their applications.

If you build an API and release it into the wild -- even if it's high quality -- there are no guarantees the developers will immediately come.

Even the big players like Google have to build awareness and resources around their APIs before they can hit a critical mass of developers and be on the road to success.

Developer presence and activity is critical in attracting new developers and partners to an API.

Partners want to see that there are qualified, highly skilled and reputable developers available who can work on a particular API before they'll consider integrating that API into their own systems.

For their part, developers want to see there are others to learn from and others who are actively using an API before they'll commit to integrating their software with an API.

So, how will you attract developers to your API?

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