Building facilitation instead of interruption

I ran across this blog post yesterday ("APIs are the next marketing platform"), and it's really resonating with me. In it, Kipp Bodnar explains that while billboards, and print ads, and blogs (etc) may have been the "marketing platforms" of the past, the future of marketing platforms is the API (the application programming interface).  Quoting:"The future of marketing is about companies developing useful applications for their customers that extend web services that the customers are already using. This replaces the current model which is to use web applications to communication with customers.  The problem with current social media marketing is the noise. A company is one of thousands, sometimes millions of users and it is easy to get lost. Developing applications via API’s provide a way for companies to break out of the crowd and at the same time create value for customers...Brands will need to become conduits that facilitate consumer communications instead or interrupters that intermittently drop in advertisements."I think this is right on. And I also think it's why tech marketers (or at least their technical counterparts) and companies that are interacting with publishers NEED to come to Glue.If you look at the Glue agenda, you might see it simply as some kind of "web services" conference. But that really couldn't be farther from the truth. Glue is exploring the nuts and bolts that bind together web apps (and, oddly, that now includes the desktop).When you begin to think about a world where the web is the uber-platform, the applications (and their APIs) become the necessary glue that binds together our web experience. Understanding the underpinnings is key to understanding how you can leverage a "sticky universe" -- and begin to think about what it means to either A) build your own "platform" as a marketer or B) build services that marketers will use as platforms for their applications.Any way you slice it, you shouldn't miss Glue if you're a tech marketer or startup that's venturing into this new world.