More API Evangelists And Storytellers Please

Everyone once in a while I get a comment from someone regarding competition in the API storytelling space, alluding to someone getting the page views, or audience when it comes to APIs. I rarely worry about these things, and in reality, I want to see way more competition and outlets when it comes to short and long form API storytelling--the API space needs as many voices as it possibly can.

I'd like to see domain specific evangelists emerge, beyond individual API advocates. Someone covering industrial, machine learning, healthcare, and other significant verticals. We need to begin to cultivate domain expertise, and preferably vendor-agnostic, and tooling-comprehensive knowledge and accompanying storytelling. Some of these verticals are in desperate need of leadership, and I just don't have the time to focus in on any single area for too long.

We need more practical, and hands-on API storytelling like we are seeing from the Nordic APIs. They are rocking the storytelling lately, exceeding the quality I can achieve on API Evangelist. They are hitting all the important areas of the API life cycle, and their storytelling is genuine, useful, and not pushing any single product or service. The Nordic APIs is invested in educating the community, something that makes their work stand out--emulate what they are up to if you need a model to follow, don't follow mine. #seriously

If you are an API provider or possibly aggregator and marketplace, consider following the lead of BBVAOpen4U API Market, they produce some interesting content, as well as also have a good way of sharing and syndicating quality content from across the API space. I've seen a lot of companies come and go when it comes to aggregation and syndication of API stories. I like BBVA's open approach, because they have skin in the game, and seem to genuinely want to highlight other interesting things going on in the space--something more API providers should be doing.

If you want to get started in the space, all you need is a blog, a Github, and Twitter account. Come up with a name, and begin learning and writing. Don't worry about page views, or having a voice when you first start, just write. Then as you feel comfortable, and find your voice, begin sharing your work more, as well as highlight the work of other storytellers in the space you are learning from. If you keep at it for a while, you never know, you might actually build a following, and be able to influence the world of APIs through the stories you tell--give it a shot.