Ryan Sholin

If you can’t beat ’em, or buy ’em, use the API

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Ryan Sholin
in

⚠️ This post is more than five years old. Links may rot, opinions may change, and context might be missing. Proceed with cautious optimism.

Newspapers should produce amazing local databases with great maps, ratings and reviews.

A newspaper company should buy Yelp.

Yelp now has an open API. Newspapers should stop trying to develop something better, and use the API to provide users with Yelp’s functionality on their own sites, applied to their local businesses.

Apply that logic everywhere it makes sense. No need to re-invent the wheel if you can tap into a massive database for free using an API, a la Google Maps mashups.

Do it this week.

Comments

3 responses to “If you can’t beat ’em, or buy ’em, use the API”

  1. Mindy McAdams Avatar
    Mindy McAdams

    That’s so cool! (I love Yelp.) But do you think newspapers can wean themselves off their compulsion to reinvent the wheel? Maybe it’s in their DNA …

  2. Ryan Avatar
    Ryan

    Ah, how do I put this…
    Newspapers should hire people who know the wheel exists.

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