The Collecta API
Why do you have an API?
Collecta has what we believe to be a really great, new way to experience the Web. It's alive and it's happening NOW. So we've built a platform for generating searchable real-time results. We already have some ideas for how users may want to see it, so we're building Collecta.com. But we also know that good ideas come from everywhere. We're happy when users find our results useful. We're also happy when others come up with new, clever ways are created for using Collecta's real-time data.
What's in it?
We have the update streams of news sites, popular blogs, social media, photo and video sharing sites. Our content is constantly growing. Right now we are not providing Twitter results in the API. This might change at a later date, but if you want those, they are readily available from the Twitter API. We also have data from MySpace available via api.myspace.collecta.com, the API works just the same for this data except for these differences.
It's free, right?
You got it. At some point once usage exceeds certain volume and performance levels, we'll have to move to something beyond free and actually charge for access. But not yet. Let's figure out what we can do together first.
What can I do with it?
Almost anything! We want you to build things that you think you would use or think other people would use. For example, say you are a surfer and you want to build an app that collects all the mentions of your favorite surf spots so you can know if the surf is good, then you can! Heck we even have National Weather Service updates.
You said "Almost anything!" So what CAN'T I do with it?
You can NOT redistribute results or data delivered from Collecta in any format other than a public end-user experience.
What are other people doing with it?
Glad you asked. Check out some examples of how people are using the API in the Gallery.
This sounds really great! How do I get access to it?
To use the Collecta API you need to have an application key which we will use to track your usage volume. In order to get that key we ask that you email api@collecta.com and provide your name and a description of how you plan to use the API, in as much detail as you like. Please make sure you email from a valid email address and add us to your white list. We will be sending you your key back to this address.
Rules for Usage
If you use our API, we ask that you abide by the following :
Include a clickable Collecta badge of predetermined size - or - approved clickable text link to http://www.collecta.com
Use the API to create public end-user experiences. If you'd like to conduct research or redistribute feeds, we would like to talk to you about your idea to see what we can do together.
Right now the beta HTTP API has an initial limit of 5,000 requests per hour and the XMPP API has an initial limit of 7,200 results per hour per unique API key for development and testing purposes. Any requests made over the rate limit will return an error. If you are ready for prime time and these limits don't meet your application's needs, please shoot us an email. We're sure to be able to find something workable.
Didn't you already tell us about #2?
Yes, but its important so we wanted to say it again.
How stable is the API?
This is an API Beta, so for now we do not warrant that the current api and the resulting stream of data is fit for any particular purpose and it is provided "as is". This means right now we make every effort to keep this up and running, but as we are still in the early stages of Beta we know that things don't always go to plan. The legal guys would probably make me say it like this: Licensees are not entitled to any service level agreement, nor is one expressed or implied.
What if I need help?
We will do what we can to answer any questions or clear up anything that is unclear in our documentation. For questions about coding and writing apps with the Collecta API, please check out our Developer Group. If you have specific problems with your API key, shoot an email over to help@collecta.com and we will get back to you as soon as we can. Please include your name and all the details about your problem in that email.
Anything else?
Three things:
Have fun. Be creative. We know real time data has a lot of potential and we'd love to see what you can do.
Again this API is early in the beta stage so things can and will probably change often. We will do our best to communicate with you any changes that are coming before they happen including any changes to the rate limits.
There's a trade here - we give you a free api, you make sure to tell everyone where the results are coming from by displaying a Collecta badge in your application. Beyond that, we really want to know what you're doing and how we can improve, so please tell us!