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the beauty of it is that if you don't like Google, it provides interfaces and APIs to extract your data in standard formats. You can export emails, contacts, ca

the beauty of it is that if you don't like Google, it provides interfaces and APIs to extract your data in standard formats. You can export emails, contacts, calendar stuffs, docs, etc. Facebook allows none of this. Once you're in, you're stuck there.

tedunangst 15y ago
Well, apart from the whole "Download Your Information" thing that lets you download all your data, you're totally right.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- NeutronBoy 15y ago
  Great, I'll provide instructions to users of my app on how to initiate this (IIRC) manual process that requires them to navigate a maze of FB privacy pages, confirm via email that yes, they do actually want their data, and then they can wait for the request to be processed by FB. Then they get emailed a zip file full of multiple files with everything they've ever done. Hardly the same as APIs that allow you to export the things you want, on-demand, in a documented format, seamlessly into alternative applications.
  - taligent 15y ago
    Cool. Please by all means show me how to get a list of my circles from Google Plus ? Because last time I checked their API was very, very basic.
    - jmillikin 15y ago
      https://www.google.com/takeout/ https://www.google.com/takeout/
  - tedunangst 15y ago
    Your initial comment would have been a lot more credible if you'd said exactly that.
- drivebyacct2 15y ago
  That's hysterical. Have you ever clicked it? Yes. Enjoy that 50MB HTML file downloaded.
taligent 15y ago
What a load of rubbish. 1) Google provides NO API for extracting all my data from Google Plus. 2) Facebook has a download my information link in the Preferences panel.
- magicalist 15y ago
  The API is anemic, but as jmillikin noted in http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3846020 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3846020 the data liberation has been there since launch. I hadn't used takeout before, but I just tried downloading my circles and got a zip of vcard files. https://www.google.com/takeout https://www.google.com/takeout

tedunangst 15y ago

Well, apart from the whole "Download Your Information" thing that lets you download all your data, you're totally right.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
NeutronBoy 15y ago
Great, I'll provide instructions to users of my app on how to initiate this (IIRC) manual process that requires them to navigate a maze of FB privacy pages, confirm via email that yes, they do actually want their data, and then they can wait for the request to be processed by FB. Then they get emailed a zip file full of multiple files with everything they've ever done. Hardly the same as APIs that allow you to export the things you want, on-demand, in a documented format, seamlessly into alternative applications.
- taligent 15y ago
  Cool. Please by all means show me how to get a list of my circles from Google Plus ? Because last time I checked their API was very, very basic.
  - jmillikin 15y ago
    https://www.google.com/takeout/ https://www.google.com/takeout/
- tedunangst 15y ago
  Your initial comment would have been a lot more credible if you'd said exactly that.
drivebyacct2 15y ago
That's hysterical. Have you ever clicked it? Yes. Enjoy that 50MB HTML file downloaded.

taligent 15y ago

What a load of rubbish. 1) Google provides NO API for extracting all my data from Google Plus. 2) Facebook has a download my information link in the Preferences panel.

magicalist 15y ago
The API is anemic, but as jmillikin noted in http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3846020 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3846020 the data liberation has been there since launch. I hadn't used takeout before, but I just tried downloading my circles and got a zip of vcard files. https://www.google.com/takeout https://www.google.com/takeout