Thing Labs

Thing Labs was an early consumer social-software startup founded in 2008 by Jason Shellen (previously a product lead on Blogger and a co-creator of Google Reader at Google). The company built browser-based social tools including Plinky (daily writing prompts), Brizzly and the Brizzly Guide (a web-based Twitter/social client), and Let's Be Trends. Backed by SoftTech VC (now Uncork Capital) alongside angel investors, Thing Labs was acquired by AOL in September 2010, after which Shellen became VP of Product for AOL's AIM & Messaging group. Thing Labs no longer exists as an independent entity and publishes no public developer portal, documentation, OpenAPI/AsyncAPI, or machine-readable API surface; this profile is retained as a portfolio-lead record for the API Evangelist network.

Thing Labs is profiled on the APIs.io network. Tagged areas include Company, Social Software, Consumer, Web Applications, and Acquired.

📡 Source on GitHub

0 APIs

Company Social Software Consumer Web Applications Acquired Defunct

Source (apis.yml)

aid: thing-labs
deliveryModel:
  model: unknown
  open_source: false
  commercial: false
  callable_host: false
  label: Delivery model not determined — needs a product licence on record
  confidence: low
  source:
  - none
  generated: '2026-08-28'
  method: derived
accessModel:
  pricing: unknown
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Unknown
  confidence: low
  source: []
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/thing-labs.png
name: Thing Labs
description: Thing Labs was an early consumer social-software startup founded in 2008 by Jason Shellen (previously a product
  lead on Blogger and a co-creator of Google Reader at Google). The company built browser-based social tools including Plinky
  (daily writing prompts), Brizzly and the Brizzly Guide (a web-based Twitter/social client), and Let's Be Trends. Backed
  by SoftTech VC (now Uncork Capital) alongside angel investors, Thing Labs was acquired by AOL in September 2010, after which
  Shellen became VP of Product for AOL's AIM & Messaging group. Thing Labs no longer exists as an independent entity and publishes
  no public developer portal, documentation, OpenAPI/AsyncAPI, or machine-readable API surface; this profile is retained as
  a portfolio-lead record for the API Evangelist network.
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/thing-labs/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
x-type: company
x-source: vc-portfolio
x-backed-by:
- uncork-capital
x-tier: stub
x-tier-reason: portfolio-lead
x-status: defunct
x-acquired-by: AOL
x-acquired: 2010-09
specificationVersion: '0.23'
created: '2026-07-17'
modified: '2026-07-21'
tags:
- Company
- Social Software
- Consumer
- Web Applications
- Acquired
- Defunct
apis: []
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com
- FN: APIs.json
  email: info@apis.io
x-enrichment:
  date: '2026-07-21'
  status: minimal
  artifacts_added: 0
  pass: local-v1

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