Being both a huge fan of Kiva and a web developer, I was thrilled to read that the popular microlending organization recently released a web developer API. This is great news across the board ranging from Kiva supporters who blog (yours truly) to Facebook users to Kiva groups who receive funds for their small businesses. In a nutshell, an API allows developers to create the fancy widgets, applications, and tools we all use every day from blogging to Facebook to the iPhone.
For an example of the first Kiva widget made for WordPress, the blogging platform JosefScarantino.com is built on, scroll down and take a look at the bottom right column of this site. You’ll see how two of the Kiva projects I support are shown along with some basic info and pictures. If you have a WordPress blog of your own and support any Kiva projects, you can show your Kiva info by using the Kiva.org Loans Widget.
What else can we expect from the Kiva API? Well, the excitement has just begun and will only improve with time. I expect the Kiva API to grow by leaps and bounds over the next 6 months to maturity. While the WordPress widget I have installed on JosefScarantino.com is fairly basic, it is just the beginning of a great future for the Kiva API.
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