I don't think the abstraction layer needs to be tough at all. To make things simpler, you'd only tackle a small problem first, then incrementally move towards the uber-app.
For instance, as a first pass, you'd just allow the user to post to various services and retrieve comments on their post in one place. So you'd have getPostLength, postMessage, and getReplies
I think that'd be about it.
Ideally you'd have a meta-language that described how to find things on each service. I've already done some work with that as part of another project, so I know it's workable.
Like I said, this is so easy a caveman could do it, which leads me to think that the gnarly part of the problems lie somewhere else besides the technology -- perhaps finding the right initial niche for growth or dealing with lawyers from the social sites.
For instance, as a first pass, you'd just allow the user to post to various services and retrieve comments on their post in one place. So you'd have getPostLength, postMessage, and getReplies
I think that'd be about it.
Ideally you'd have a meta-language that described how to find things on each service. I've already done some work with that as part of another project, so I know it's workable.
Like I said, this is so easy a caveman could do it, which leads me to think that the gnarly part of the problems lie somewhere else besides the technology -- perhaps finding the right initial niche for growth or dealing with lawyers from the social sites.