App developers, take note: There’s now an application programming interface (API) available for Google+. In the Google+ Platform blog, Google Developer Advocate Chris Chabot wrote, “…we want every one of you who builds applications to be able to include rich sharing, identity, and conversations in your app…This initial API release is focused on public data only — it lets you read information that people have shared publicly on Google+.”

Chabot also wrote, “This is just the beginning; the Google+ platform will grow,” so it’s likely that Google will continue to open more of its platform to developers, like the Facebook API that allows third parties to build apps for the network.

With this first API for coders, Google is trying to extend the influence of Google+, similar to what Facebook has done with its developer platform, which is a “model example of how to scatter a Web2.0 product across the interwebs,” reports The Register.

Read more at The Register ^[1] and at the Google+ Platform Blog ^[2].