The TwitFeeder has support for non-Twitter sources – crossposted from the TwitFeeder blog:
The TwitFeeder uses the Twitter API to get the different bits and pieces of information needed to generate the enhanced RSS feed. However Twitter isn’t the only one exposing the API:
- Laconi.ca (now Status.Net) is an “Open source microblogging service” and it exposes an API which is almost 100% compatible with the Twitter API and you can see it in action on Laconi.ca sites like Identi.ca or The TWiT Army (the Status.Net wiki also contains a large list of installs)
- WordPress.org recently added support for a subset of the Twitter API
What does this mean for users? All the Twitter specific tools just became more usable, leading to more integration and less time-wasting (which is the main idea behind this site). You can use the TwitFeeder to subscribe to any site which exposes the Twitter API:
- Subscribe to one of Identi.ca’s founder: identi.ca/evan
- Subscribe to Leo Laporte on the Twit Army: army.twit.tv/leolaporte
- Subscribe to a WordPress blog (most of the blogs already have an RSS feed, but just for the fun of it): wordpress.com/decipherinfosys
More API support = Less siloed information = More fun
Programmers sidenote: there is no “official” compatibility test for the API, so you can never be sure that you are perfectly compatible – there will be always some gray areas (for example the exact link to a status message – which varies between different implementations). All you can do is to have rigorous unit tests. And code reuse either using our sources or pything-twitter to which we’ve contributed support for multiple sources.