---
layout: post
title: The USA Today API Matures
image: https://s3.amazonaws.com/kinlane-productions2/api-evangelist-logos/api-evangelist-butterfly-vertical.png
author:
  name: kinlane
tags:
- API Evangelist
- APIs
- Business
- Data
- Evangelism
- Integration
- Media
---
Back when I first started doing API reviews on [API Evangelist](http://www.apievangelist.com "API Evangelist"), I did a review of [USA Today's API](http://apievangelist.com/2010/10/27/usa-today-api-review/ "USA Todays first release of their API").

At first I almost didn't post the review. It was such a simple API, with nothing innovative to speak of. It just didn't seem worth covering.

When they first launched the [USA Today API](http://developer.usatoday.com/ "USA Today API"), it provided services for [best-selling books](http://developer.usatoday.com/docs/read/bestselling_books "best-selling books"), and [sports salaries](http://developer.usatoday.com/docs/read/salaries "Sports Salaries"). It wasn't very exciting.

Fastword 10 months, and their API is looking much more robust. Now they also offer [Articles](http://developer.usatoday.com/docs/read/articles "Articles"), [Book Reviews](http://developer.usatoday.com/docs/read/book_reviews "Book Reviews"), [Breaking News](http://developer.usatoday.com/docs/read/Breaking_News "Breaking News"), [Movie Reviews](http://developer.usatoday.com/docs/read/movie_reviews "Movie Reviews"), [Music Reviews](http://developer.usatoday.com/docs/read/music_reviews "Music Reviews"), and [Snapshots](http://developer.usatoday.com/docs/read/snapshots "Snapshots").

Most recently, USA Today also added[US census data](http://developer.usatoday.com/docs/read/Census "US Census Data") to their API offerings.

Looking back it was easy for me to criticize the big media company for releasing such a simple API, but in reality they are doing what I feel everyond should do, start simple.

USA Today looks like they are getting their footing with packaging up data sets and making available via their API. This data is probably very usable by their internal teams as well as makes USA Today a potential integration partner with other applications.

I think other news and media organizations can learn a lot by following in USA Todays footsteps, and deploy very simple APIs, learn, and slowly tackle more as you find the right approach to your API community.

Also, I'm sure USA Today was able to tackle so successfully with the help of [Mashery](http://www.mashery.com "Mashery").

###### Related articles

*   [Analyze 2010 U.S. Census Trends With the USA Today Census API](http://blog.programmableweb.com/2011/06/09/analyze-2010-u-s-census-trends-with-the-usa-today-census-api/) (programmableweb.com)
*   [API Basics for Retail Companies from Best Buy](http://apievangelist.com/2011/06/03/api-basics-for-retail-companies-from-best-buy/) (apievangelist.com)
*   [Qwerly API Review](http://apievangelist.com/2011/05/29/qwerly-api-review/) (apievangelist.com)