Social API - Harmonizing Social Networking services in Drupal

This node contains an initial description of how the Social API should work. For more info about the roadmap, refer to this node

How it will work

The Social API will be nothing more than a set of basic classes, routing rules and links patterns to unify the configuration environment for integrating different social network services. So far, three main components have been identified in all the social networking APIs that have been researched (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google Plus, and Linkedin). These components are Plugins, OAuth and Sharing (auto posting).

• Plugins are usually part of the social networking services which don’t require authentication from the Drupal site to use them. They are divided into Buttons (follow, like, tweet, share, etc.), embedding contents (posts, tweets, etc.) and some specific ones (like the comment plugin of Facebook).
• Through OAuth, users will be able to sign in Drupal using their social network account, and Drupal sites will be able to create new accounts using the information provided by OAuth services.
• The sharing system will allow site editors to directly share their node/content to social networks.

This “huge” machine will be split into small modules with very specific jobs. Above the Social API, there will be a module that provides links rules and libraries for a specific social network. Then, above this layer, there will be other modules that implements specific services of the social network’s API. For instance, take a look at how facebook’s service implementation will look like:

This will allow site developers to only implement the specific service they need. For example, a site builder might like to add only the facebook’s comment system to his website, so he only needs to install the “fbcomments” module, alongside “facebook” and “social_api”. Futhermore, this will also enable the community to have small pieces of software to maintain.