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Tweetbot for Mac Alpha Program Ended Over Twitter API Restrictions

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Apr 12, 2001
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Following the introduction of new Twitter API guidelines -- the rules by which third-party Twitter clients must abide -- Tweetbot has decided to end the pre-release testing program of TweetBot for Mac.

The public Alpha program began more than a month ago to help Tweetbot get feedback on the Mac Twitter client as the developers moved towards final release.

One of the API changes relates to how many "tokens" a particular Twitter app can have, limiting the total number of customers an app can serve without approval from Twitter. In order to protect their ability to sell the maximum number of copies of the app going forward, Tweetbot has discontinued the alpha program and ceased distribution of the app.
As some of you may have already noticed the download link for the Tweetbot for Mac alpha no longer works. Twitter's latest API Changes means now we have a large but finite limit on the number of user tokens we can get for Tweetbot for Mac. We've been working with Twitter over the last few days to try to work around this limit for the duration of the beta but have been unable to come up with a solution that was acceptable to them. Because of this we've decided its best for us to pull the alpha.
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More than a few pundits have expressed their displeasure with the situation, putting the blame squarely on Twitter. Even so, at this point, Tweetbot for Mac will be available for sale "in the near future" and the developers are merely stopping the public phase of prerelease testing.

Article Link: Tweetbot for Mac Alpha Program Ended Over Twitter API Restrictions
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/08/27/tweetbot-for-mac-alpha-program-ended-over-twitter-api-restrictions/
rorschach

rorschach

macrumors 68020
Jul 27, 2003
2,272
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Twitter is shooing themselves in the foot imo. One of the major reasons for their success is the API and third party developers. Sure they say they'll "work with" individual clients that need more users, but you know this just means "licensing fees", which means only the big guys will get those exceptions.

And they claimed they want developers to create unique experiences and apps for Twitter rather than just recreating the official one. But now they're dictating exactly how every client has to look down to font size, pixel distance between the avatar and tweet, colors, linking, etc. It makes no sense.
 
nutmac

nutmac

macrumors 603
Mar 30, 2004
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Given additional requirements for 3rd party clients, which would in turn help Twitter monetize better, token limit seems rather absurd.
 
F

FourCandles

macrumors 6502a
Feb 10, 2009
835
0
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Not had the chance to sample the Alpha for Mac, but IMO TweetBot for iOS is the best Twitter client by far - and walks all over Twitter's own client app. I can see all the commercial reasons for trying to impose control of the ecosystem, but this seems to be a bad move.
 
kirky29

kirky29

macrumors 68000
Jun 17, 2009
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Lincolnshire, England
What makes/made Twitter great was the unique apps people made and how it could be built to look like anything...... why would/should people bother now that Twitter tells them what it's gotta look like right down to the fonts..

This could be the beginning of the end for Twitter...

Or maybe this will be forgotten about in a few months ;)
 
haruhiko

haruhiko

macrumors 604
Sep 29, 2009
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Okay, twitter, you want your great first party experience? Where is my twitter for mac that supports the retina display?
 
F

Flitzy

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Oct 20, 2010
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rorschach said:
Twitter is shooing themselves in the foot imo. One of the major reasons for their success is the API and third party developers. Sure they say they'll "work with" individual clients that need more users, but you know this just means "licensing fees", which means only the big guys will get those exceptions.

And they claimed they want developers to create unique experiences and apps for Twitter rather than just recreating the official one. But now they're dictating exactly how every client has to look down to font size, pixel distance between the avatar and tweet, colors, linking, etc. It makes no sense.
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Twitter didn't do anything.

Why should they go out of their way to accommodate a beta test for Tweetbot? I would think that 100,000 users is more than enough considering developers don't have to pay anything to use Twitter's resources.
 
J

jj47

macrumors regular
Aug 16, 2012
184
0
OtherJesus said:
Twitter app for OSX and iOS suck balls.
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Seconded. And you can add Facebook to that list (even though it's ios app has become better).

If I want to social network I'll do it by browser to get a full experience.
 
rorschach

rorschach

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Jul 27, 2003
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Flitzy said:
Twitter didn't do anything.

Why should they go out of their way to accommodate a beta test for Tweetbot? I would think that 100,000 users is more than enough considering developers don't have to pay anything to use Twitter's resources.
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If it was really about money, Twitter would have set up a licensing program and allowed any client with over X users to pay.
 
F

Flitzy

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Oct 20, 2010
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rorschach said:
If it was really about money, Twitter would have set up a licensing program and allowed any client with over X users to pay.
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Why should they? Twitter shouldn't be obligated to provide resources for beta testing their app.

This is just more developer whining.
 
rorschach

rorschach

macrumors 68020
Jul 27, 2003
2,272
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Flitzy said:
Why should they? Twitter shouldn't be obligated to provide resources for beta testing their app.

This is just more developer whining.
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Nobody says they HAVE to. Nobody is saying they are obligated. They can do whatever they want. But Twitter has been successful to no small degree because of its API and third party developers. So they are shooting themselves in the foot. Those developers will simply migrate to other platforms.

It's just like how Facebook is free to set whatever privacy policies it wants to; but that doesn't mean having one that pisses off users is a good idea.
 
stiligFox

stiligFox

macrumors 65816
Apr 24, 2009
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Aw cheese, no I wish I would've grabbed it while I had the chance. Tweetbot for iPad is a godsend and Twitter for Mac sucks. Oh well, hopefully it'll come out of beta soon!

What am I saying? I only use Twitter to follow Notch, Jeb and Dinnerbone lol.
 
B

babyj

macrumors 6502a
Aug 29, 2006
586
8
Not sure why Twitter are catching flack for this.

Tapabots want to hold on to their 100,000 tokens until they can make money from them by selling their apps. They don't want to give any of them away via their beta programme as it will cost them sales and profit in the future. Whilst Twitter provide Tapabots with the services they in effect resell and don't charge them for it.

I'd say Tapabots are the ones in the wrong here.
 
P

petsounds

macrumors 65816
Jun 30, 2007
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rorschach said:
Nobody says they HAVE to. Nobody is saying they are obligated. They can do whatever they want. But Twitter has been successful to no small degree because of its API and third party developers. So they are shooting themselves in the foot. Those developers will simply migrate to other platforms.
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Well, in social media 'successful' is sort of a funny term. No one knows how much money Twitter is making for sure, but it doesn't seem to be very much. But they have deep venture capital pockets. Meanwhile its 'ecosystem' is raking in quite a bit of cash. The reason they're doing all this is because they want to control the stream and put ads in it. They want to monetize this huge user base they have. At this point they don't really care about the 3rd party guys who have basically been getting a free ride on the Twitter service.
 
Northgrove

Northgrove

macrumors 65816
Aug 3, 2010
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So basically Twitter is now putting a limit on how many users a third-party Twitter application can have.

I wonder when Tweetbot for iOS and the rest of the third-party will be affected.

It only seems to be a question of when.
 
F

FourCandles

macrumors 6502a
Feb 10, 2009
835
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England
Northgrove said:
So basically Twitter is now putting a limit on how many users a third-party Twitter application can have.

I wonder when Tweetbot for iOS and the rest of the third-party will be affected.

It only seems to be a question of when.
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They already are. The official Twitter post mentioned in the article references it, albeit a little obscurely; however this post from Tapbots (TweetBot developer) explains it a little better:

http://tapbots.com/blog/news/dont-panic

Obviously that was written before they decided to pull the TweetBot for Mac alpha.
 
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