Simon Willison’s Weblog

Subscribe

What company had the first API?

11th October 2010

My answer to What company had the first API? on Quora

They weren’t the first to have an API, but Flickr were the first consumer web site that really pushed the concept in my opinion. They originally promoted it as “you can always get your data back if you want to”, but they then greatly benefited from the ecosystem that grew up around it.

This is What company had the first API? by Simon Willison, posted on 11th October 2010.

Next: Is the 90-9-1 rule of user participation a myth?

Previous: Why is it hard to see who the poster of a question is on Quora?

Monthly briefing

Sponsor me for $10/month and get a curated email digest of the month's most important LLM developments.

Pay me to send you less!

Sponsor & subscribe