Twitter devs, what's your plan?

[scripting]

Do you have an app that runs on the twitter api? What is your plan for next week?

I'm starting a thread here on the Scripting repo to gather comments.

Let's not use Twitter for this one. 😀

[preslavrachev]

No idea as of yet. We'll most likely go with any price tag, because our products and customers depend on the API access. However, as of this moment, I am still unable to uncover more details about the pricing, or whether it will require regenerating key (and respectively, our customers' tokens), etc.

[scripting]

@preslavrachev -- can you say what your product does, pointer?

I'm glad to hear another perspective, in the echo chamber everyone is angry and won't pay, etc.

For me, I see it as a chance to transition my products in a direction that they were going in anyway, and this way the users don't mind some downtime, because now is when the change has to happen and it's sudden and they'll understand.

It's also an opportunity to get more attention for products that were lost in the crowd on the twitter platform but might get a fresh look in Mastodon-land. ;-)

[scripting]

One thing I wonder, will tweet embeds be included in the new for-pay Twitter API?

If so, imagine all those broken iframes out there on the web!

[scripting]

Starting to do small things for the create corner-turn away from Twitter. We no longer have RT icons on items on the Scripting News website. And there no longer is a button in the upper left corner that lets you log on and off of Twitter. Watch this space for more updates.

[jonsagara]

I had been building app that would (eventually) search the Twitter API for mentions, but I put it on hold when Whatshisface took over.

I think my time is better spent investigating how to do the same with Mastodon. I very highly doubt I will develop against Twitter's API.

[OleEichhorn]

Watching all this with great interest. Implementing a Mastodon API on the theory that whatever wins in microblogging will have one that’s similar.

[scripting]

@OleEichhorn -- are you implementing client support for mastodon api? if so what platform?

[OleEichhorn]

Remember when eBay was free? Then they started charging, everyone said it would die, it did not. Network effect too strong.

Same with PayPal. Started out free (better than free they paid you to sign up) then they started charging, everyone said it would die, it did not.

Agree it’s a big mistake for Twitter to charge for non-commercial use of their API. Could understand wanting to charge Tweetdeck etc but not all the one-offs like me. But will it kill Twitter? Time will tell…

[gruber]

I wrote my own bot for posting links to new DF articles to the @daringfireball Twitter account back in 2010. I can’t see paying $100/month to keep it going, and the price might be higher than that. So I guess I’m just pulling the plug on that account, or else I’ll switch to some other service that uses their own API key.

Feels like Twitter is dying, at least for my audience, so I can’t say I’m all that upset about it. It just seems so fucking stupid on Musk’s part though. Thousands of DF readers enjoy getting those tweets.

[dw808303]

Remember when eBay was free? Then they started charging, everyone said it would die, it did not. Network effect too strong.

Same with PayPal. Started out free (better than free they paid you to sign up) then they started charging, everyone said it would die, it did not.

To my mind, the big difference between those platforms and Twitter is that they started charging while they were still growing. Twitter is actually shrinking, at least among the sort of technical folks that care about APIs.

[scripting]

@dw808303 -- when you say "twitter is actually shrinking" is that based on data or intuition?

@gruber -- i have similar issues. but i have so many connection points with twitter in my codebase, it's basically triage here, what do i care about and how much work is it to convert.

@OleEichhorn -- we'll have to reserve judgement until we hear what the deal is.

in the meantime how ridiculous is it that they give us 7 days notice with no info on what the actual deal is.

that's some seriously bozo platform management imho.

[dw808303]

@dw808303 -- when you say "twitter is actually shrinking" is that based on data or intuition?

I have no access to data (I suspect the true numbers are zealously guarded, especially now), just going by my own experience on the platform (the number of people who have completely stopped engaging with the platform or who have deleted their accounts entirely).

[scripting]

@dw808303 -- this is like the blind men and the elephant, i never trust that kind of impression. when people guess about what i'm doing they always get it wrong. always.

[gruber]

@scripting It’s the bozo-est of bozo platform management I have ever seen.

[scripting]

@gruber — maxed ou the bozo-osity factor. The bozo bit was high. The bozo of all bozos. 🤡