Ok so I’m listening to a commercial the other day, and I thought I heard Gwen Setefani mention the word mashup. Now of course we all know that a mashup is is a web application that combines data from more than one source into an integrated experience. Right? Content used in mashups is typically sourced from a third party via a public interface or API. So where does mashup content come from? Generally speaking, it can come from web feeds or web services which are plentiful.
Lately though, many developers and organizations are experimenting with mashups using Microsoft, Google, eBay, Amazon, Flickr, and Yahoo APIs. But I think it’s safe to say that Web 2.0, web mashups and Ajax are all part of the same mix; All of which to me, are all basically saying or trying to achieve the same thing: they are gathering information and presentations and then are parsing it out into little bits of content that can be reused in unique and different ways.
Social networking sites will continue to exploit and enhance mashups, and it’s merely up to the discerning user to decide what they will do with them. I think what might be of more signifigance is how the developer community takes the tools and further develops them and even more importantly, how do marketers take advantage of this? Any thoughts? Lets hear them.
