Twitter CEO Evan Williams just announced at SXSW that his company is taking another step to integrate with the rest of the web with a new platform called @anywhere. Operators of third-party websites will be able to plug in @anywhere to integrate some basic Twitter functionality without requiring their users to navigate away from a page.
When you visit a website that supports @anywhere, you’ll be able to follow any Twitter account associated with that site without navigating away to the profile at Twitter.com. The Twitter blog suggests that the platform will let you follow a participating journalist from his or her byline. It also suggests that you’ll be able to tweet about a YouTube video without interrupting it.
More @anywhere features are planned; Twitter says the above-mentioned items are are “just the beginning.” Integrating with the rest of the web is a wise move. Facebook’s Facebook Connect platform is dominating right now, and while Twitter has a similar login platform, it’s lost its head start when it comes to openness and integration.
The person or organization behind a website can drop some JavaScript in the website to integrate with @anywhere, so there won’t be any arcane Application Programming Interface (API) to learn and implement. Initial partners will include Amazon, AdAge, Bing, Citysearch, Digg, eBay The Huffington Post, Meebo, MSNBC.com, The New York Times, Salesforce.com, Yahoo, and — as mentioned above — YouTube. Twitter hasn’t said when those sites will begin using @anywhere.
Future announcements regarding the platform will come from the @anywhere Twitter account — you get one guess as to what the username is. Platform/API guru Ryan Sarver promised “lots more details” at the Chirp Twitter developer conference this April 14 and 15.
via Mashable