While the Instagram > Facebook > Twitter lovespat, “you can post this but it won’t post to this, but it will do that one as we own it”, continues we’ll see more ringfencing of revenue going on via API’s and flumes of data.

Pinterest acquires Punchfork. First job, shut it all down: the service, the support and most importantly access to the API. What does that achieve? Well it stuffs Evernote note up for a start, who’ll have to go looking for a new API to get food data from.  If all else fails then it’ll be back to Pinterest (who, as you’ll notice no longer offer a public API for data, recommendations and the who-likes-that-bit-of-apparel) to negotiate an inflated price deal for the data.

See a pattern emerging yet?

From the ashes of the Web2.0 generation (not the Ruby on Rails heads, I mean before that) where mashing up various data sources was encouraged. It’s now a fragile walled garden. If you aren’t prepared to pay the entrance fee, or do a dare, then you can forget about access.

A few predictions

Twitter will remove access to posting to Facebook

Foursquare tighten up their API access and sell check in data. Chances are they’re doing this already.

Evernote need to acquire ifttt in all honesty all they’ll see API’s vanish around their feet. 

IFTTT will need to produce a premium service and get cash in the bank now, before API/Data owners start charging for a per API call. 

Any site or app developer who’s sole source of information comes from a large organisation with an API needs to buck it’s ideas up or pray that they get acquired real quick. 

2013 is the year when data owners realise that data = revenue.