So you've decided that your company needs social data. Or more social data. Perhaps A LOT more data. You may be questioning whether to use third party data collection or build it yourself. Because it's so easy to set up a basic integration with a single API, companies often assume that the long-term cost of data collection trends toward zero. Here are five things to consider when evaluating your build vs. buy decision:
APIs are Unique
- Unique schemas: RSS, Atom, Activity Streams and service-specific one-offs.
- Several protocols: HTTP GET/POST, Comet, PubSubHubbub, XMPP and more
- Authentication: HTTP-basic auth, OAuth, tokens, API keys or none at all
- GNIP does all the integration work for each data provider and provides a single normalized interface to our customers.
APIs are Fluid
- Over time, data publishers increase / relax usage restrictions on their APIs
- APIs frequently require new parameters, breaking existing integrations
- Occasionally, APIs are deprecated and replaced with newer versions
- GNIP maintains strong relationships with data publishers and ensures that API integrations are always up-to-date.
APIs are Expanding
- New and existing companies are constantly joining the list of API providers
- Location-based data services that are primed for explosive growth
- As your business evolves, previously ignored APIs suddenly become useful
- GNIP makes it dead simple to add future APIs as they become important to your business.
APIs are Imperfect
- APIs occasionally go down, unexpectedly or for planned maintenance
- APIs use unique error codes to describe common situations
- API connection characteristics change regularly, sending ripple effects through the system
- GNIP provides detailed visual reporting that gives real-time, intelligible insight into publisher behavior.
APIs are Limited
- Almost every data publisher limits the amount of data that's available via API
- Requesting more data than allowed can result in decreased or zero access
- Throttling levels change over time, making data more or less available
- GNIP works with data providers to increase access for our customers and helps you get the data you need with the access you have.
APIs are Dependencies
- Each API integration increases the chance of something going wrong in your product
- Monitoring and servicing each API means more work for engineering and operations
- Troubleshooting issues with multiple sources is a drain on your team and timeline
- GNIP provides an operational dashboard and health checks to ensure integrations are running as expected.
