Digg has announced that it is revamping its API so that developers can create more feature-rich applications for the social content-sharing site and write/contribute data using OAuth. The new API will also let developers write tools that give users the ability to Digg, bury or comment on stories.

Digg has also updated its API documentation with a focus on usability and interaction, giving developers more freedom to create apps for the platform. To show off the new API, Digg has created a few reference apps.

These include:

An updated toolbar for Firefox that includes the ability to Digg URLS without having to come back to site every time (yes!). The new toolbar is also more customizable, and has been revamped for better UI and usability. You will be able to read the details here soon and download the source code from Github.

Digg has also created a streamlined version of its site called DiggLite (which will be live soon). DiggLite includes a stream of the most popular stories — which can be Dugg or buried remotely — and it can organize stories by top-level categories. Developers can use DiggLite as a framework for creating a new Digg app. You will be able to download the source code from Github presently.

Digg says that the ability to create applications that can write data will initially only be available to a limited number of beta testers. Eventually, however, the site will extend this feature to all developers.

In the last year, Digg has faced some tough criticism over the DiggBar and other initiatives, so it’s great to see that the API is becoming more usable for developers.

I firmly believe that having an API isn’t enough; the interface needs to actually be valuable to the developer (and in turn, the end-user). Allowing write-access and giving developers more control is a step in the right direction for Digg.

What Digg-related apps would you like to see hit the Web?

Tags: api, digg, diggbar, digglite

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Digg Makes it Easier to Get Dugg