Twitter takes on third-party developers with strict new rules
Twitter has released details of its long-hinted crackdown on third-party apps that mimic the "mainstream Twitter consumer client experience" in a blog post that sparked both confusion and outrage. In the announcement, Twitter said that developers have six months to bring their apps into compliance with the opaque new API, but left many questions unanswered. While some developers are working closely with Twitter to follow these new rules, other third-party services like Tumblr are speaking out against the new restrictions. Stay on top of this developing situation right here.
Twitter discontinuing iPhone, Android, and Air versions of TweetDeck
Twitter has announced that it will be discontinuing several TweetDeck apps in favor of the web client. The Android, iPhone, and Air-based desktop clients will all be affected; the apps will be removed from their stores in early May, and stop functioning soon after. Facebook integration will also be removed.
The apps rely on version 1.0 of Twitter's API, which has just been superseded by 1.1, and as such the company warns that performance may be sporadic until it finally stops offering the...
New Falcon Pro for Android users locked out as app gets squeezed by Twitter token limits (update)
Popular Android Twitter client Falcon Pro is the latest to run afoul of Twitter's app restrictions. Earlier today, Falcon Pro's developers tweeted that it had hit the ceiling of 100,000 user tokens that Twitter's API allows for many third-party clients. That means that while people can still buy the app, new users won't be able to log in. To make things worse, running out of tokens doesn't necessarily mean 100,000 people paid for Falcon. It's listed on the Play Store as having between 10,000...
Tweetbot teases Vine integration, showing it may be easy for third-party clients to adopt
Viewing Vine videos in third-party Twitter clients isn't the best experience right now: they work, but you have to watch using an external player after following a link, whereas the official app displays them inline. From what we're seeing, though, it looks like it may not be too hard for third-party developers to integrate the new functionality in full.
Tweetro hits back at Twitter API restrictions with $9.99 Windows Store relaunch
After Twitter's imposition of strict API limitations "completely crippled" Tweetro, the popular Windows 8 client's developers have pressed reset. A new app called Tweetro+ is now available in the Windows Store for both Windows 8 and RT, but there's a catch — you'll have to pay $9.99 this time around, or $12.99 in a couple of weeks.
As with the $19.99 Tweetbot for Mac, Tweetro+'s developers have felt the need to charge a fairly high price because Twitter's API rules limit third-party apps...
Tweetro says it's 'completely crippled' by Twitter's strict 100,000 user token limit
Tweetro has fallen victim to Twitter's strict new API policies that were announced earlier this year. According to an email we received from Tweetro developers, the app saw a huge spike in downloads after the release of Windows 8, and rapidly reached its 100,000 user token limit. Users now receive a "cannot connect to service" error when trying to authenticate the application, and Tweetro developers say the app is "completely crippled" as a result.
Twitter originally said that developers...
IFTTT disables Twitter Triggers in response to Twitter's new third-party app policies
In response to recent changes in Twitter's increasingly stringent third-party app policies, web service IFTTT is removing all Twitter "triggers," which let you set up "recipes" to automatically push favorited tweets to Evernote, or crosspost tweets to Google+. In an email to users today, IFTTT CEO Linden Tibbets specifically called out Twitter's new policy to "disallow uploading Twitter content to a cloud-based service" (Section 4A under heading I) that provoked a change. Additionally,...
Life after Twitter: StockTwits builds out its own ecosystem
As Twitter transforms from an open web platform to a more traditional media company, startups that built on top of it are leaving in search of new ways to grow their business. StockTwits founder Howard Lindzon doesn't mince words. "We've moved off the platform and so will everyone else. If we hadn't done that, we would be dead in the water."
StockTwits is a real-time micro blogging service, but one devoted to discussion of finance, markets, and the economy. It began largely as a community of...
As Twitter API v1.1 rolls out, controversial rules for developers start to take effect
Twitter has released v1.1 of its API and updated the "Developer Rules of the Road" document to reflect the changes. There's been not a little controversy over the new rules of late, most notably over the theoretical 100,000 user limit placed on third-party Twitter clients. While we previously heard that developers will have six months to comply with the new API requirements, it's not yet clear what will happen to those that flout them. Twitter has, however, seen fit to clarify the user limit...
Introducing Twitter's new business: Twitter
Lately, Twitter's rule changes seem to draw a roadmap that consists of a bright red line leading straight towards a walled garden. In its latest move, Twitter blocked Tumblr from using its API to power a friend finder, once again raising a hue and cry across the web and, yes, across Twitter. Behind it all is the same old question: what is the Twitter platform going to become?
Cutting off Tumblr was no surprise, it follows similar moves to block high-profile partners, LinkedIn and Instagram....
Tumblr 'truly disappointed by Twitter's decision' to block friend-finding on the blogging service
Tumblr is the latest company to respond to the strict guidelines found in Twitter's new API terms. As spotted by Matt Buchanan, the site just abruptly removed Twitter from its "Find people you know" section, which previously scanned your Facebook, Gmail, and Twitter friends/contacts, matching them with users on the Tumblr microblogging platform. Now only the former two services remain.
Instagram was forced to take similar action last month, axing Twitter from its own friend-finding...
Twitterrific developers continuing work on major update after consulting with Twitter
If there's one thing most people seem to agree on regarding Twitter's opaque new guidelines for developers, it's that third-party clients are the most likely services to suffer. Some client developers are staying optimistic, however — the creators of Tweetbot and Twittelator are continuing to work on their apps, and now the team behind Twitterrific has issued the most bullish statement yet on the matter. The Iconfactory says it's been working on a "major update" to its app for a while, and...
Twitter is great, Twitter is terrible: vague new rules leave developers in the dark
Friday was an emotional day for the independent developers who have created many of Twitter's most popular apps. The company announced sweeping rule changes on Thursday afternoon that imply hefty consequences for apps from Flipboard to Instapaper. Trouble is, there are still some questions as to what those consequences are.
"Clearly we definitely could be clearer if there is so much confusion."
The latest announcement is the most precise articulation yet of Twitter's attitude toward the...
Twitter dictates third-party app form and function in new API, gives six months to comply
Twitter has been broadcasting for quite some time that it would be making changes to the API that developers use to access it for apps and today the company is finally beginning to detail what those changes are. First and foremost, developers who create apps that perform traditional 3rd party Twitter client functions (like Tweetbot) will be limited to 100,000 users total before the developer must get "permission" and/or "work with [Twitter] directly." Current apps will be able to continue to...
Apps & Software
Twitter blocks Instagram from using its API for friend-finding feature
Soon after LinkedIn fell victim to Twitter's new, stricter API policies, Twitter has blocked Instagram users from finding their Twitter friends in the app. A recent Instagram update removes the "Twitter friends" feature, and attempting to use it on the current version brings up an error messages that says "Twitter no longer allows its users to access this information in Instagram via the Twitter API." The change comes as Instagram celebrates reaching 80 million accounts, double its user base...
Web & Social
How many people use third-party Twitter apps?
In light of Twitter's recent promise to crack down on third-party clients that use Twitter's API to "mimic or reproduce" the original client experience, Benjamin Mayo decided to conduct a rather unscientific study to find out just how many people use those apps. Because Twitter does not release such information, Mayo ran a script to count the source of a random sampling of tweets from about 9:00 AM until 5:30 PM on July 18th.
The sample size is rather small at just one million tweets (for...
Apps & Software
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo wants 'a world where people build into Twitter,' not off of it
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo has reiterated many of the storylines we've been watching from the social network for some time. He pointed out that the company hopes to become a hub for events both large and small, which lines up with previous reports that Twitter plans on centralizing news and information related to sports events like the Olympics. Costolo actually had foreshadowed this aim as early as January, when he elaborated on the space Twitter...
Web & Social
Twitter follows Facebook down the walled garden path
Twitter set off alarm bells across the web in recent weeks when it ended its partnership with LinkedIn and reiterated its warning that it would be cracking down on the terms of its API. The company didn't offer any explanation for why it removed tweets from LinkedIn, but speaking with sources familiar with the company's plans, The Verge has learned that major changes are coming in the next few months which will move Twitter from an open platform popular among independent developers towards a...
Web & Social
Twitter portends changes for 3rd party apps, ends LinkedIn integration
There's drama in the Twitterverse today thanks to a blog post from Twitter and another from LinkedIn that followed within minutes. Twitter's post re-emphasized something it had said over a year ago (amid similar drama), that it would not look fondly upon developers who use Twitter's APIs to "build client apps that mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience." Back then, the post led to concerns that Twitter was about to immediately cut off 3rd party apps. That didn't...
