Google just unveiled a page for Google+
developers. It will post news updates and info about events, conferences and
walkathons. host weekly video hangouts to share updates, tips and tricks about
the platform. Office hours are on Wednesdays between 11:30 a.m. and 12:15 p.m.
Pacific. Hopefully, this is a sign of upcoming API releases, so Google+
developers can start, you know, developing. The Google+ Platform Blog has been
pretty quiet. Google SVP Vic Gundotra said in October that Google+ doesn't "want
to make the same mistakes of others," referring to Twitter by opening the API
too quickly to developers and then having to clamp down later.
Google made some of the Google+ API available
last year, but the capabilities are still extremely limited. Applications can
currently read the main stream as well as search, +1s and comments. This has
allowed aggregator apps like news readers to start pulling content from the
Google+ stream. There are also basic ways to extend video hangouts with
applications. But because developers don't yet have write access, Google+ is
fairly isolated from the Web outside. The +1 button has become commonplace for
sharing, but third-party applications that share easily to Facebook, Twitter,
Foursquare and more still can't post to Google+. Once Google opens up more write
access to other clients, third-party contributions to the Google+ ecosystem will
start to get interesting.