Why Twitter’s new rules will choke app developers

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

Twitter is heading.

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.