Social Media Application Program Interfaces - Assignment Example

The emergence of the World Wide Web has made it possible to reach a large number of people from all over the globe with the simple touch of a button. As a result the social media came into existence which can be described as a virtual platform where individuals can interact with one another as well as seek or give information on various subject matters (Jacobson, Woods & Brail, 2011). The social media application interfaces were created in order to exploit this market segment. An API (Application Program Interface) can be described as a technological platform that allows different software components/programs to run in harmony with one another allowing for a type of connection to be made between them that allows for the sharing of information (Benslimane, Schahram & Amit, 2008).

The social media application programs that have been developed have been designed in order to allow the different major social networking sites to run in harmony with one another. The development of these programs have allowed for the provision of a number of API services that are available to marketers who are interested in using the social media as a platform for the promotion of their products (Evans & Mckee, 2010). . and some of more preferential ones that can be used for marketing purposes include: Sharing Features Photographs from one site can be shared onto another site by an individual and this can be said to be one of the most popular features of social media application program interfaces (Evans & Mckee, 2010).

For example, a marketer is able to post a picture on their website and provide an option that allows for an individual to share the same photo onto their Facebook page. Information such as news items can also be shared in a similar manner where instead of a photo being reposted, an individual is able to post the link to whatever particular story he wants to share with others (Jacobson, Woods & Brail, 2011). The main reason for using this service would be to reduce the amount of work that a marketer has to do through the creation of such shortcuts where they are not only able to share things on other social networks faster and more easily (Benslimane, Schahram & Amit, 2008).

The feature also encourages individuals to help with the marketing through providing them with the share option. Embedding This is a process that has similarities to that of the share feature and can be said to be slowly fading from the scene (Evans & Mckee, 2010). It still has its advantages however as one is able to embed any content they desire to share to the profile of a social media site making it accessible to everyone.