Google+ API Not Close …Unless You’re “Trusted”, Then It’s Ready

Just yesterday, we wrote that those developers waiting on a Google+ API would have to wait a while — months, even. This disappointing information came to us by way of one eager developer based on what they were told by a project manager for Google+. And that’s undoubtedly the case for most developers. But not all of them.

If you happen to be what Google considers a “Trusted Tester”, you could be getting access to the API much sooner. Maybe even in the next few days.

What constitutes a “Trusted Tester”? Well, one qualification is if you’re backed by Google’s venture wing, Google Ventures. This will probably piss some developers off. I’m sure there will be 500 stories about the conflicted nature, right? But in reality, it makes sense. This is more or less Google testing out the API with a small group well before it’s fully ready for prime time.

Still, it is an early jump on what could end up being an important social sharing layer.

How do I know all of this? We have an email that Google Ventures sent to portfolio companies today announcing the service. Find it below.

Hi –

The Google+ team is going to be starting to roll out some of their APIs to our Trusted Tester program in the next few days (followed by a more general availability in the next few weeks). They’ve agreed to give this early access to a small number (2-4) of our portfolio companies.

If you’re interested, we’d like you to at least be able to commit to building a small “hello world” app quickly (in the next 3-5 days). This stage of the program is more about feedback on docs and code for now, with an intent to have more meaningful interactions with G+ as more APIs roll out.

If you’re interested, please email me back with your company name, contact name, and email address.

Sam