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Twitter Officially Bans All Third-Party Apps [Update]
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that the ad-serving business these days isn't just "show this ad", it's "show this ad and let us know if the user clicks it, pauses on it, how many times they scroll across it, what other topics they're viewing so we can tailor the next ad..." and the other stalkeriffic stuff that makes the Google/Facebook/Twitter model so unsavory. All this requires active participation and two-way reporting from the client. There are certainly ways Twitter could loop third-party clients in, such as requiring a contract and fees for API access, but I don't think it's as simple as just shoving a few random sponsored tweets into each stream.
This was the straw that broke the camels back. I’m out
Most services do not expose their API, it's surprising it was exposed in the first place, was it at least paid or completely free to use?
Yeah, I saw that and shook my head. I understand their dilemma, and none of this is their fault. At the same time, that statement just wasn't a "good look" for them. I think the right thing to do is to offer to refund purchases made in the last 7-10 days–but no more than that.
I don’t think Elon cares.
I have quit Twitter too. Elon takes poor decisions and he knows it. He destroyed 40% revenue within a few months and I am sure he will bring Twitter to the graveyard.
I am not willing to be part of a Twitter where we are dependent on the daily moodswings of one huge manchild. Sadly enough, I cancelled Fenix and Tweetbot.
In my opinion the only right solution for the EU is for the EU Commission to ban Twitter for abusing its monopoly. Just a TOTAL block.
I am not willing to be part of a Twitter where we are dependent on the daily moodswings of one huge manchild. Sadly enough, I cancelled Fenix and Tweetbot.
In my opinion the only right solution for the EU is for the EU Commission to ban Twitter for abusing its monopoly. Just a TOTAL block.
Personally, I think Twitter/Musk really went about this in the most catastrophic way. Also — and just my opinion — there's some irony to categorizing this as an attack on free speech or some other form of freedom. I think companies should be free to make any decision about their product, service, etc. for better and for worse. If Musk is unwittingly destroying Twitter, maybe something (Mastodon-esque?) will replace it. So yes, it's stupid, people are dumb, etc., etc., blah, blah blah but there's a thread to this that's essentially what free markets should be about. Again, this isn't to say people should (or shouldn't for that matter) be harmed, but if you want to shell out 44B, buy a company, make poor decisions, alienate users, accrue a lot of ill-will, etc., you should be 100% free to do it w/out recrimination. There are a lot of really interesting discussions to have about all of this, if people were able to more adequately control their emotions. Unfortunately, that's just the world we live in. I'd be careful about how much you cry for government intervention/control/regulation, lest one day they come to intervene/control/regulate you (more than they already do).
So charge for the API like any normal business would. The people using third-party clients are unlikely to move over to the official Twitter app, so now they've lost users and potential recurring revenue.
Twitter owns TweetDeck. Has for probably a decade now. So it's not a third-party app.
Exactly. Would I pay for Twitter Blue to use their horrid official apps? Absolutely not. Would I pay the same fee to navigate Twitter in a beautiful third-party app that I can make work the way I want? Absolutely. If Twitter had told Tapbots that their users would have to pay the $8 to continue using it to compensate for ad revenue (or whatever), I would have paid without hesitation.
The monopoly on what? Information dissemination?
actually is a smart move. 90% of these are bot facing API's that are inflating and devaluing the twitter experience IMHO. He has to rewrite the book to make it a platform that he wants and can become financially stable.
Yes. They have lost ad revenue since Musk took over (30% to 40%). Major ad agencies (Omnicom) have paused ad-buys on Twitter for lack of Brand-Safety. There is a billionaire taunting him on twitter with an offer to buy Twitter for it's actual worth of $14 billion. NOTE: This was the known value before Musk decided to purchase and because the board ignored his first offer, Musk raised it to $40 billion with no "due diligence"
Don’t care for how this happened. There should have been, like, a year-long API deprecation or something. But at the end of the day, I still dig what Musk is doing, if only to disrupt the utter cesspool that was Twitter management.
He's not moving fast getting the FSD working as he's promised for years. He is fast at making bad tweets that say people trying to save others are pedophiles, and is currently on trial for fraud because of tweets about taking Tesla private and having funding. So yeah, fast at some things. IMO
I feel extremely sad for the third-party app developers who have just been given the middle finger by Musk.
Musk has gone at this in a very half-cocked way, royally screwing over the people and companies that made Twitter what it was in the first place. He has also soiled his reputation yet again, which is going to hurt him in his other ventures, past, present and future.
There are other places online that offer solid avenues for expression and discourse, that actually respect the users who use them and the developers that are busting their butts behind the scenes to make it happen. Twitter is no longer one of them.
Don’t feed the hand that bites you.
Musk has gone at this in a very half-cocked way, royally screwing over the people and companies that made Twitter what it was in the first place. He has also soiled his reputation yet again, which is going to hurt him in his other ventures, past, present and future.
There are other places online that offer solid avenues for expression and discourse, that actually respect the users who use them and the developers that are busting their butts behind the scenes to make it happen. Twitter is no longer one of them.
Don’t feed the hand that bites you.
I don't doubt they lost 40% revenue. I don't doubt he laid off 50-80% off employees. I do doubt they will disappear in any way shape or form.
Don't care for Elon, but Twitter ain't going anywhere.
That’s very likely the case. Without knowing how the corporate governance of Twitter now works, I’d say that he’s now completely running the show, driving the business as he sees fit.
He won’t profit by screwing over the people that made Twitter successful in the first place, meaning the developers. That lesson has been taught and learned over and over throughout history. Sad for him, sad for devs, sad for users, sad for all of us.
Nice Twitter.
Twitter today confirmed that it is no longer permitting third-party developers to create Twitter clients, with the information quietly shared in an updated developer agreement that was spotted by Engadget. A new clause under Restrictions says that developers are not able to "create a substitute or similar service or product to the Twitter Applications."
This wording effectively bans all third-party apps such as Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Aviary, Echofon, Birdie, and others, and makes it clear that third-party Twitter apps are not going to come back at this time.
Last Thursday, Twitter stopped providing API access to major Twitter clients like Tweetbot, causing them to stop functioning, but at the time, provided no explanation as to why the APIs were suddenly unavailable. Twitter remained quiet until Tuesday, when it cryptically said that it was "enforcing its long-standing API rules," a change that could cause some apps not to work.
Third-party developers at no point received any communication from Twitter nor any warning about the shutdown, and Twitter never offered insight into what API rules might have been violated. As it turns out, Twitter is implementing a policy change that simply blocks third-party clients.
All popular Twitter clients such as Tweetbot and Twitterrific are no longer working, and the Twitter users that depended on these apps will now need to use the official Twitter app on iOS or Android or the Twitter experiences on the web. By cutting off third-party Twitter apps, Twitter will be able to serve ads to all users on its platforms.
Third-party Twitter apps have been around for more than a decade, and they were a popular choice for those who do not care for the default Twitter interface. There have long been complaints about Twitter's own app and the web experience, with third-party clients able to offer a much more palatable interface for many.
Developers had no notice that their revenue streams were going to be cut off, and they were not able to inform customers who paid for their apps about the shutdown. As Twitter has no communications team, little else is known about this situation.
The developers behind Twitterrific confirmed that the Twitterrific apps for iOS and Mac have been pulled from Apple's App Stores as of today. Until this afternoon, Twitterrific for Mac was still functional, as Twitter had not uniformly cut off third-party clients.Twitterrific subscriptions through iOS have been cancelled, and Twitterrific is asking subscribers not to request a refund from Apple as the loss of the Twitterrific revenue will have a notable impact on the business, and thousands of refunds could be devastating.
Article Link: Twitter Officially Bans All Third-Party Apps
Reward: Less people using it
When lenders look at numbers, having a high user count matters. Dumping a ton of people isn’t a good look.
No money from 3rd party apps, but also less users.
I do not and have not used any 3rd party apps but this is beyond idiotic.