New API Rules: Twitter Lays Down the Law for Third-Party App Development
By Karla Robinson
August 20, 2012
August 20, 2012
- Twitter is making commitments to its new API changes, placing stricter requirements on third-party developers.
- For one, any app accessing Twitter’s API must be authenticated. Developers have six months to switch over to the new API v1.1.
- Also, third-party developers will be required to get permission or “work with [Twitter] directly” once they reach 100,000 users, the company explains. For current apps, the new restrictions will apply after their “user tokens” double whatever they are now.
- “Essentially, once any third party app hits its user limit, the developer will need to have a ‘come to Twitter’ moment at which something will happen, but Twitter’s not saying what,” explains The Verge.
- Twitter reiterated that it does not want client apps that “mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience.” Instead, the company said it “preferred that developers create analytics apps, Social CRM apps, and other types of essentially non-consumer-facing apps while avoiding traditional clients,” the article states.
- Another change: Twitter is putting a limit on the number of API calls that can be made in an hour, making it so anyone that wants real-time analytics has to work closely with the company. Also new, hardware manufacturers will have to clear pre-installed Twitter apps on devices because they are rarely updated, Twitter says.
- Twitter will continue to push the enriched-content “Twitter Cards,” with plans to expand. And developers will now have “Display Requirements,” not “Guidelines.”
- “[The changes] could mean that we’ll be seeing more and more partnerships between third party developers and Twitter (likely that involve displaying Twitter’s ads and ensuring revenue flows in the right direction). It could also mean we could see the most popular Twitter apps shut down,” the article concludes.
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