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Ask HN: Examples of web apps as composable data
Looking for more examples of a particular style of web app that is close to my heart. For lack of a better name, let's call them "composable data" apps.
These applications have (at their core) two functions: (1) collect a piece of data and (2) expose it in a useful way (usually with an API).
They tend to focus on atomic data units of a single type (they don't collect just anything).
I'll try to offer some examples since I think that my description may be unclear.
Last.fm (the old site)
atom: a song listened to
collection: automatic (scrobbled from media player)
expose: web app, API
Reading.am
https://www.reading.am
atom: article that you read
collection: manual (post to web app), automatic (hooks to Twitter/FB/etc)
expose: web app
Pinboard.in
https://pinboard.in
atom: url
collection: manual (post to web app), automatic (hooks to Twitter/FB/etc)
expose: web app, api
A good litmus test might be how cleanly they map to IFTTT or Zapier workflows. Looking for the Xs and Ys in "Add X to Y."
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Others to consider:
- Original Twitter? Maybe Twitter's atom was a status update (or a thought)
- Original Delicious? Atom was a URL
Early Twitter and Delicious are confusing since they were both data repositories and social networks.