Savvy users of WordPress.com will notice something new on your profile page.
What’s it for? Time will tell. Let’s just say WordPress.com is going to become a lot more useful for people who already have WordPress blogs.
Cheers to Donncha for rolling this out, as I’m still mostly incapacitated right now.
Matt on Not-WordPress, mostly photos 
hmmmm, maybe a way to export a WP.com blog to your site?
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I’m thinking that It might have to do with exporting like the guy said above. Their is a plugin probaly in development that will roll out soon, and will let you enter your WP.com API key If you want to export your posts to a new blog.
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It does make you wonder but somehow I doubt that exporting to a WordPress.com blog is the answer. For one, that encourages migration away from standaloe WordPress installs which makes no business sense. Or mirroring a WordPress blog on WordPress.com, an idea that lacks real common sense (why have two identical sites to drain away traffic and stats, and maybe ad revenue away from one main blog).
I’m real interested, though, to see what the API does…
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Cold, cold. (Anyone remember the hot and cold game?)
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Maybe something like a ping so that in my wp.com sidebar blog it will be shown when theres a new entry on my regular wordpress blog? Or otherwise?
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Hmm. I remember it Matt. Matt, is it for RSS (Display it on your other blogs, etc..)? Am I alittle warm? 😦
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Will the key allow you to edit templates?
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@jtintle: i don’t thing so. Matt has written that it is something for people with other own wordpress blogs
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Yeah true… so lets think, What do I want to do with my wordpress blog that would include my WP.com blog, him if its not exporting the WP.com to a WordPress blog, then it shouldn’t be an RSS feed, maybe a special admin function that will allow you to control both blogs via one admin panel
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I hope it’s a first step in paid hosting at WordPress.com where the “power users” with standalone blogs can easily import databases here for hosting with unique domain resolution. We’d need CNAME access and other cogent control but perhaps the API is a magic dust you sprinkle over your current WordPress setup so you don’t lose anything in a move being hosted here? It makes more economic sense to have all the WordPressers under one umbrella for support and consistency and upgrades and fixes can be done invisibly and server side so WordPress as an economic entity becomes immediately stable and secure without unpatched installs hiding on servers across the world sullying the name and the WordPress brand.
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My feeling is, since Doncha is the guy who is the brainpower behind it, that it has to do with MU blogging. Maybe by providing your API key to other bloggers, your WordPress blog can become a multi-author style blog without being multi-author… Like WordPress Planet is…
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I think it allows you to access your posts and other data with specific function calls. I’m really hoping it uses REST; I hate XML-RPC.
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Maybe its a trusted identity system…
I go to WordPress.com and get an api key then plug it into WordPress on my site… Then people can be registered in WordPress.com or -any other- WordPress blog and sign in to my blog as a trusted user!
Take that blogger/typepad/livejournal ids!
am i getting warm?
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My guess is that it’ll let you do stuff like pull post data from your WordPress.com blog onto your WordPress blog. I actually already have my WordPress.com posts displayed in my sidebar, thanks to MagpieRSS, but a direct API will let you get more data than the feed can give you. Heck, you could even do stuff like have a consolidated search for both your blogs.
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Mark– exactly, that’s what I think as well.
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Still cold!
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It wouldn’t have to do with the WordPress.com blue user bar across the top?
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It must be some kind of vaccine then for the Avian Flu.
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Maybe it’s something like drupal. I am logged in in drupal.com and because of that I am automatically logged in other drupal systems, where it is allowed by the admin
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Maybe it’s a way to MIGRATE your existing WP blog to WP.com…
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Maybe it’s a way to conquer the world?
now seriously, I think it’s a way to pull data from wp.com powered blogs, like registered users and comment authors for easier comment spam control, or maybe it’s a way to merge your wp.com blog with your hosted wp blog, so that you can post and change settings to both blogs using the same admin screen, but all those ideas have already been mentioned, and Matt just won’t tell us….
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It lets you edit your template?
Am I warm yet?
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Well too bad it doesn’t have anything to do with the AJAX IM program that was mentioned not to long ago
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There are already plugins for aggregating RSS feeds etc into WP, so I doubt this API key is for that. The mere fact that it is, infact, an API key should tell us that its more about taking the data of your WP.com blog out rather than bringing data in.
So I’m guessing it might let you write a post on your self-hosted WP blog, and have it appear on your WP.com blog automatically using the API key. Or something along those lines.
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I vaguely recall a post somewhere on the net concerning an option to post to multiple blogs from within one single Dashboard. Maybe this API key has somehting to do with that? Managing multiple WordPress blogs from a single source? That’s my educated guess. Actually… I guess I can’t say educated since I don’t have a link to backup my claims.
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Still ice cold. I think you guys are going to like this one. 🙂
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By any chance, is it a flexible tool for posting to your WP.com without the need of logging in through your browser?
Cheers.
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I acttually know one use of itt, butt I’m sworn to secrecy.
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Hey, there are some great ideas here. Food for thought. Frozen food, but food nonetheless. 🙂
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Something to do with adsense or layouts ?
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Maybe for flex2, because in the presentation of flex2 they called pictures from flickR with an API key into their ‘application’ .
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oops, I’m sorry for the double post but here is the tutorial for the flex2 application. what they do in the tutorial is the same as they did in the presentation.
url: http://labs.macromedia.com/technologies/flexbuilder2/tutorials/
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I think that will enable plug-ins. We will see a list of approved plug-ins soon 🙂
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API?
Mabye apple, cherry, or pumpkin? Thanksgiving is right around the corner so my vote is for pumpkin.
…I Just couldn’t resist!
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I suspect that it’s a way of allowing some customization of wp.com blogs while steering clear of the security risks that allowing full access to themes and plugins poses for wpmu.
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Perhaps the API might be usefull for the new upcoming Browser Flock? Link: http://www.flock.com
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WordPress Firefox extension?
Backup for your other non-wordpress.com WordPress blog?
Something to do with bbPress?
Still cold?
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Still cold, but to be honest I’m loving the ideas you guys are coming up with. 🙂
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It’s a human brain API key. You think, the thought shows up on your blog.
Can you give us a hint?
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Wait! Matt do you even have a real plan for the API?! Or are you using this post to come up with decent ideas to implement into WordPress.com? j.k.
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Any connection whatsoever with Ryan’s recent comment:
“What a concept, using our own API.”
http://ryan.wordpress.com/2005/09/20/cleaner-role-creation-code/
??
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Britta,
Ryan is referring to using code they have already written to do Task A, to do Task A somewhere else in the system.
Al.
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since i guess that you guys are up to something fresh, it wont has anything to do with import/export, crossposting, aggregation of service xyz and probably has nothing to do with themes.
my guesses:
1.) everybody at wordpress may use the key to order a free top level domain which will route to his account
2.) you made some collabo with a software company and wp.com users may use that “api-key” as a license-key
3.) something that has to do with flock
4.) sharing stuff between blogs, improved community features between local on remote wp sites… new chat tool.. something like that.. post repository..
bleh! 🙂 tell us!
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does it have to do with this blueish div in the top area on YOUR blog, that points to my blog, which does make sense to me ;-.)
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@1stpixel: Do you mean the admin bar? This was implemented some weeks ago so it has nothing to do with the api key.
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Flock.
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API for plugin development so a plugin can query the blog with x API key?
I can’t really see why you’d need the key, but maybe because it’s M-U you do… I dunno! Just a guess, like everyone elses’!
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Hmm…. How about some sort of search API that lets you find posts from all across the wordpress.com universe by keyword or category and add “relevant links” to your existing blog posts?
It would also be interesting if the API gave you access to your wordpress.com media uploads.
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I have no wp.com blog, nor do I need or want one, as I have a normal host, so I’ve got no idea what this strange new feature is. I’ll give it a guess, though!
Umm…
A… new… page… to… manage…
…badgers? No, no. Maybe some sort of thing to forther integrate with flock?
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Hey Matt is it about time to reveal what its used for? It’s almost been a week.
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I’m working on the website for it!
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A whole website? Or just a subdomain website?
Come on Matt, you can tell me!
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A whole website.
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Yet another Web 2.0 application?
That seems pretty senseful.
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API key generates your user name for a new bbpress forum account that identifies you as a member of wordpress.com in the new “comunity” forums…
and/or allows you to use the new bbpress hosting solution (from the folks who brought you WordPress.com!!!) in conjunction with your wp.com account…
maybe…?
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It finally allows you to mix whole and 2% milk without having to worry about it blowing up?
(Ok, I give up, but if you got that joke, good for you! :D)
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Can we share API #’s with our friends?
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I’d be willing to bet it works similarly to the API for Backpack, for those who don’t know about it read up on backpackit.com.
Also, there is a typo on the “Leave a Comment” section, it should be E-mail (required), you forgot the opening parenthesis.
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No you should NOT share your API key with anybody, it’s like a password.
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If you don’t tell us….I’ll….I’ll….have to continue using WordPress.
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Matt, okay I won’t share my API #, however being a capitalist would selling my API # be profitable?
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Okay I posted the first thing to use the API keys here:
https://matt.wordpress.com/2005/10/25/announcing-akismet/
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API’s might used to provide statistical information such as the number visitors to the partical blog , the wordpress.com users who visit your site often and a topic search within wordpress.com.Also it might be used to manage multiple wordpress.com accounts in a single interface using the key to post to different blogs.
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