Twitter, the popular micro-blogging site,announced a new set of rules for third-party Twitter app developers in a blogpost today.
The rules, which are seen as rigid and restrictive, have raised a lot
of questions as to the direction in which
Third-party Twitter apps such as Tweetbot, Tweetcaster, Seesmic,
UberSocial, Plume for Twitter and Twitterrific are basically going to
pay the price under Twitter’s new rules.
In the blogpost, Twitter’s Michael Sippey wrote,
Nearly eighteen months ago, we gave developers guidance that they should not build client apps that mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience.” And to reiterate what I wrote in my last post, that guidance continues to apply today.
The post clearly indicates that Twitter is not happy with Tweetbot and other Twitter-mimic apps.
So what exactly are the changes that Twitter has imposed on app developers?
1) User limit: Twitter has set a cap limit of
100,000 users for third-party app developers. For existing apps that
currently have more than 100,000 users, they can get up to 200% of
whatever number of users they have (Which means if they have y number of
users now, they will be capped at 200% of y users). Apps will also
require special permission from Twitter if they cross 100,000 users.
Twitter will thus restrict the number of users an app can have. So much
for a free API.
This is the biggest problem faced by API users as it necessarily
curbs their ability to grow, and by necessary extension, their ability
to generate revenue.
2) Authentication: This move means that
authentication is now a must for each and every API request that is sent
to Twitter. In the current version of the Twitter API, the v 1.0
developers did not require authentication in order to access certain
API endpoints. This essentially enabled them to access public
information from the Twitter API without having to go through the
tedious process of revealing who they were. This means that very often
Twitter doesn’t know who the developers or users are. With
authentication, Twitter will now have complete knowledge.
Twitter, the popular micro-blogging site,announced a new set of rules for third-party Twitter app developers. AFP
Twitter says this is to ensure that malicious programs don’t steal
information from the site, but developers aren’t too pleased with this
need for information on the part of the micro-blogging site.
3) Six months deadline: App users can’t avoid these
rules. Version 1.1 of the app is out in the next few coming weeks and
developers have six months to migrate to the new version. Developers
who’ve been making accessing the API without authenticating it, will
have to move to the new version in the next six months.
4) Certification for mobile apps: This one again
targets apps like Tweetbot, etc. With the new API, developers who
release app for mobiles, tablets, etc will have to get certificate
application by Twitter. According to Twitter, Due to the long lead
time required to update pre-installed client applications once they’re
“in the wild”, we want to make sure that the developer is providing the
best Twitter experience possible — before the application ships.
5) Display guidelines: This means that a Tweet or Re-tweet has to be shown with all the appropriate actions. According to the blog, “linking
@usernames to the appropriate Twitter profile, displaying appropriate
Tweet actions (e.g. Retweet, reply and favorite) and scaling display of
Tweets appropriately based on the device. If your application displays
Tweets to users, and it doesn’t adhere to our Display Requirements, we
reserve the right to revoke your application key.” Oh yeah, Twitter is going to take away those rights if you don’t stick to their rules.
Overall Twitter’s rules seems a little bizarre and restrictive for
app developers. App users and developers are already fuming, and it will
be interesting to see how they respond to these diktats.
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