Ok So Who Cares?

Well the concern amongst the community right now is that this acquisition went down and it instantly broke any old Summize API requests due to the new URL redirect.  No warning was given and it just kinda happened.  With things starting off in this way, it’s no wonder that the community was feeling a little burned, spewing comments such as “RIP Summize” and other similar statements.  Feeling the heat, Alex Payne asked those following him to @reply with any concerns about the API changes as a consequence of this acquisition (http://twitter.com/al3x/statuses/859262626).  The community eagerly awaits that blog post.

Any Real Reason for Concern?

Looking at things right now?  No.  Twitter has been improving and Summize functions just as it used to (except for the broken API requests and new theme).  There is a great potential for the two services to feed off one another since Summize improved upon Twitter and without Twitter there is no Summize.  There is the obvious concern that having Summize under Twitter control will somehow destroy the great up-time, speed, and reliability of the searching service, but at the same time it might be possible for Twitter to take in the technology used in Summize and adapt it to make the mother service even better.

As a developer that uses Twitter for a number of different things, I hope we see the API for Summize largely untouched and also see the API for twitter enhanced to utilize a lot of the Summize functionality.   This will make developing applications that use Twitter much simpler.  There is an inherent risk though – if this integration does not go smoothly it has the potentional to ruin Summize and also provide Twitter no gain for their $15 million.  Let’s all hope that it works out with a great deal of improvement for everyone.

Alex Payne’s Twitter: here
Search.Twitter Query for Summize: here
Twitter Blog Post on the Aquisition: here