The third-party app Twitter just killed made the site it is today

The days of good third-party Twitter clients may be over. After Twitter suspended API access and changed its rules to ban apps that competed with its own, The Iconfactory announced the demise of Twitterific, Fenix pulled from the app store, and Tapbots posted Tweetbot’s eulogy. A loss for everyone who used the app, and almost certainly for her Twitter itself.

As many have pointed out over the past week, third-party clients have helped make Twitter the platform it is today, innovated parts of Twitter that we take for granted, and contributed to the early The stage helped shape the very identity of the company. They also acted as a safe haven from unwanted changes, helping people keep tweeting when they were ready to give up on the platform.

For example, consider the word I just used: mutter. According to Twitterific developer Craig Hockenberry’s blog post, the idea of ​​”tweeting” becoming what we call his Twitter posts didn’t really come from the company itself. Instead, The Iconfactory’s third-party QA of his client, his tester, was suggested by Blaine Cook and was quickly hired. He was at least a year old when the company started using the phrase. (Initially, Twitter prioritized “twittering.”) Twitterific also pioneered the use of the bird logo.

Third-party apps are having a huge impact on how we use Twitter, and smartphone apps in general. A client called Tweetie is widely credited with inventing the pull-to-update interaction. all kinds of the feed. Even if you’ve never heard of Tweetie, you may have used it. In 2010 Twitter bought it and made it the official iPhone client. In 2015, the company hired another third-party developer for his client to improve his Android app.

It’s also not the only complete acquisition of a popular third-party client by Twitter. TweetDeck, part of The BargeTo this day, Newsroom has been an independent app for years before being acquired by the company.

Our third-party client users, who reached millions in 2018, often enjoyed features years before coming to our official app. Echofon added the ability to mute unwanted users and hashtags in 2011. This is the official version feature. Didn’t get it until 2014.

These apps are also acting as a safe haven due to Twitter’s changes. Not bombarded with recommended or out-of-order tweets like the official app, he gave me the option to use the Twitter app for Mac after the official app was discontinued for his year. And yes, I was able to get an ad-free Twitter experience using a third-party client. This is not because they intentionally removed the ads, but because Twitter did not serve them via their API. (Side note: It’s hard to believe Twitter couldn’t get another app to show ads if it wanted or needed it.)

Twitter sometimes seems to recognize the value added by external developers. “Third-party clients have had a noticeable impact on the Twitter service and the products we build.” 2018 Note from Rob Johnson, then head of the company’s developer platform. “An independent developer created the first his Twitter client for Mac and the first native app for iPhone. These clients pioneered product features we all know and love. and Blog post from 2010Twitter said that people who used third-party clients “are some of our most active and frequent users, and a disproportionate amount of traffic from Twitter flows through such tools.” says.

Despite the accolades, Twitter’s relationship with outside developers has often been troubled. The company’s developer agreement has intermittent rules banning alternative apps that compete with its official clients, and for years the company introduced new features it didn’t support in its API. have them

But before Musk took over, the company appeared to be making a fix. , API v2 finally gave developers access to features like voting and group DMs. It’s a big improvement compared to the dark times.” And in 2022, he said, the company’s release of his v2 version of its Home Timeline API “demonstrates that it will continue to allow and even encourage alternative clients.”

Third-party clients aren’t the only ones that have improved the Twitter experience. There are also several other external tools that can improve your experience, such as Thread Reader, Block Party, and Twitlonger. (Historically, a Twitter user relied on his third-party tool called TwitPic to post photos on the site before that functionality was built in.) Most of these apps are still functional. It looks like there is, but as we’ve seen, that could change at the next point. Twitter has a feature that prevents you from posting links to them.

Of course, doing so could result in greater user backlash and worse service. But based on Twitter’s recent actions, it’s not out of the question.

I’m not claiming that Twitter never developed its own features or incorporated user suggestions. (Retweets, hashtags, and @mentions were famously invented by users with the help of third-party apps, but Twitter implemented them effectively.) Generate more good ideas than you do in

Elon Musk decided to ditch it all. Twitter suddenly disconnected from that stream of ideas. That stream gave rise to its app, some of its most popular features, and much of its core identity. Even if he backs off, why would a developer spend their best ideas on a company that hurt them so badly?