6 ms·

New APIs to power customer engagement in Direct Messages

112 points by technofide 10y ago

sarreph 10y ago
This is a good move, in a series of good moves recently, by the slowly-becoming-irrelevant service. I want to get excited by this API change, I really do. But I can't help but quash my own shower-thoughts about what I could do with this API, because what's to say they let their 3rd-party devs down again?[0] [0] - http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/23/3263481/twitter-api-third-party-developers http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/23/3263481/twitter-api-third-...
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
janwillemb 10y ago
They're aiming for the young or the forgetful developer, I assume? Twitter shutting down the APIs a few years ago wasn't generally considered the best way to get commitment from application developers.
- John23832 10y ago
  Maybe I'm misremembering, but wasn't that while Dorsey was gone? Maybe this is a new management direction?
  - cocktailpeanuts 10y ago
    Twitter recently sold Fabric to Google. https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/18/google-twitter-fabric/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/18/google-twitter-fabric/ I never used Fabric even though it was extremely useful exactly because I knew Twitter will pull something like this. It's really not any single person's fault. The problem goes really way back when they made the decision to become a media instead of platform. Back then it could have become anything but now it's already been decided what Twitter is, so it's near impossible to change the direction. That's why little things like this is just waste of time and money.
- andypiper 10y ago
  "shutting down the APIs" - you mean, requiring authentication and adding rate-limiting? which meant that we could get on top of the fail whale and control platform stability? The APIs have been open and usable all the time.
  - dbbk 10y ago
    Imposing a token limit on APIs with no recourse to lift it is effectively the same as shutting them down.
  - piquadrat 10y ago
    Maybe he meant adding arbitrary token count limits out of the blue that forced countless 3rd party apps to close shop once they became successful? Or the fact that new features like polls are absent in the public APIs, years after they have been introduced? I'm sure you're very excited about these new APIs for #brand #engagement, but don't pretend that Twitter has been a great steward of its public API over the last few years.
    - andypiper 10y ago
      I'm not pretending - I've been responsible for the public-facing APIs (since 2014). We've launched mute, accessibility text for images, multi image and video upload, etc etc. We haven't added every single feature, but we've done what we have done in a very methodical and careful way that ensures platform stability. Polls are a complicated issue because they depend on cards, which are also not currently part of the API. By publishing a roadmap for the first time, we're providing visibility into what's coming. Thanks for the feedback!
      - piquadrat 10y ago
        In retrospect, my words were probably a bit harsh, sorry about that Andy. It's never a nice feeling having one's hard work shittalked by strangers on the Internet. A roadmap is definitely highly appreciated. Something I'd love to hear from Twitter is a definitive statement on 3rd party clients: are they a welcome and supported part of the Twitter platform, or is their existence a historical accident that have no role in the strategy going forward? (I'm aware that such a statement is probably not in Twitter's interest to make, but one can have dreams, right?)
codemac 10y ago
Ah, customer service at Twitter had a good run. Back to the bots!
0xCMP 10y ago
I'm a little confused about this: I see there are better DM apis which I guess is the big push here, but what is interesting to me is the new activity webhook api. Does that mean that a 3rd-party app will need a server to handle activity notifications to replicate what twitter does on their activity page?
cocktailpeanuts 10y ago
Who really trusts Twitter at this point for anything developer related? Not just talking about their API. Twitter never knew what they were doing, and that used to be fine, but the difference now is people finally figured out that Twitter doesn't know what they're doing. They keep releasing all these new features that are all over the place (AND worse than before). They should really stop, step back, and think about only a few core fundamental problems and work on those instead.
- andypiper 10y ago
  Thanks for the feedback. Can you be specific about the API features that you're referring to that are "all over the place"? I'm personally really excited about this, and this is probably the most cohesive a strategy I've seen for the API platform. We're very focused on fundamentals right now.
  - shapov 10y ago
    From reading his comment it seems like his primary concern is the issue of trust. He goes on, "Not just talking about their API...". So I think the features he is referring to are user facing features, not API features.
  - duskwuff 10y ago
    One really obvious one: Polls. Polls were introduced in October 2015. There is still no public API to create them, view them, or vote in them -- for users using third-party clients, polls are simply invisible.
    - andypiper 10y ago
      That's frustrating, I realise. It's probably the most common feature I'm asked about regularly (alongside group Direct Messages). Polls are complicated to add, as there are three aspects (creating, voting, and then seeing the results), and they depend on cards, which are also not currently part of the API. It would be good if we at least added the information that a poll is attached to a Tweet to the Tweet JSON object, even if we can't do all the other things right away. I'd suggest keeping an eye on the roadmap for where we're going, but can't promise those things right now.
ungzd 10y ago
More features for SMM and similar "almost spam" activities. I miss days when I was able to post tweets by simple curl command and third-party clients for reading Twitter were not banned.
JamesMcMinn 10y ago
As someone who uses Twitter's APIs heavily, this is both encouraging, and slightly terrifying. We draw down a lot of data from Twitter. Obviously, we always want more data, so we got in contact with GNIP to see what we could afford (which, in itself took a long time). As it turns out its incredibly expensive, and as a very early startup, we couldn't afford any of their plans. We had no option but to fall back to their standard, free APIs and make do. There are plenty of people who would happily pay good amounts of money for access to more Twitter data - there really are a million uses for it - however Twitter's current prices are far too high for anything other than a VC funded Silicon Valley startup to afford. I hate to think how many potential startups and cool projects have been killed off instantly simply because Twitter's prices are insane. You can get real-time global stock market tick data for a year for less than Twitter charge per month for access to the decahose. So, I'm glad to see Twitter being more open about their future plans, and really happy to see they're moving towards a more self-service paid API for those than want and can afford it. I just hope they make it affordable and don't kill off too much in the process. The last thing they need is to upset a lot of developers, again. Twitter's API has always been something they've not leveraged enough. All they had to do was keep it open, find a way of serving adds through 3rd party clients, and I suspect there would have been an explosion of good clients that could have made Twitter much easier to use for people who just can't figure Twitter out. Twitter shouldn't be complicated, but it is, and by trying to hold onto the brand as tightly as they have, they've prevented good developers from making easy to use clients that could have brought in users. I really want Twitter to succeed. I hope this is the start of a turnaround for Twitter.
- frabcus 10y ago
  In the market for Twitter data that we were in at ScraperWiki, it wasn't the price per Tweet that was too much, but the minimum spend and the difficulty of getting access to the data at all. https://scraperwiki.com/2014/08/the-story-of-getting-twitter-data-and-its-missing-middle/ https://scraperwiki.com/2014/08/the-story-of-getting-twitter... That aside, our treatment as potential partners was really bad. There just wasn't a process for new ideas to be brought to Twitter management attention. I wouldn't risk using their API for a business again.
- 10y ago
minikites 10y ago
I'm sure this API will be great news to those people who are harassed with hate speech every time they use Twitter. Since Twitter has an economic incentive to ignore that problem (if they do fix it, then their "user engagement" takes a nosedive) I don't think their future is particularly rosy.
victor9000 10y ago
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice? No thanks.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
sparrish 10y ago
Until they increase their API rate limits, this change is next to useless.
- andypiper 10y ago
  We increased the rate limits for a range of the API endpoints in the fall last year, in fact. The updates we announced today should also offer more and better data to developers as they scale.
  - protomyth 10y ago
    You still cannot release a twitter client that doesn't get maxed at 100,000 users. Why bother implementing ideas when it will probably meet with the same problem due to our success.
    - andypiper 10y ago
      Well, the platform is not just about client apps, people use Twitter's data and features for all kinds of things. You're welcome to build on the platform if you've got a good idea.
      - protomyth 10y ago
        Well, my good idea was a client app, so no, I'm (and I suspect a good group of other) not welcome anymore. Frankly, it should be a lot more about client apps and new ways to use the information in a personal manner instead of creating an API that looks for all the world like something I can use to automate my support staff on twitter and fire a bunch of people.
      - zimmund 10y ago
        Building a useful client is a way to build on the platform. It's giving the users an alternative to use your platform... Twitter is so afraid of losing their users that it's becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.
      - 10y ago
la_oveja 10y ago
I really hope Twitter goes bankrupt and we all switch to an open alternative. That, or become an NGO.
crorella 10y ago
Twitter's swan song?
mschuster91 10y ago
Hey, looks like it will finally be possible to send pictures in DMs from 3rd party clients... can someone please confirm?
- duskwuff 10y ago
  I wouldn't hold my breath. It's entirely possible that the new DM APIs will be restricted to approved clients or accounts.
- andypiper 10y ago
  I believe Tweetings for Android has been updated to do so already.
electic 10y ago
A big history lesson and a big WARNING for anyone who is thinking of building anything with Twitter's APIs. Once this company, long ago, encouraged developers to use their APIs to build products and utilities. Developers heeded the call and flocked to the company's APIs. They built new clients and innovative solutions to make Twitter truly useful. Twitter grew fast with the developer's help and the developer's themselves did well. Many raised millions of dollars in VC funding to make vibrant companies around the Twitter ecosystem. Things were going well. Then Twitter became greedy. Twitter decided to destroy the very companies that grew Twitter's user base. They changed their TOS monthly outlawing various product categories. They banned clients. They put restrictive quotas on their APIs to starve out companies so they could reap their revenue for themselves. Hundreds of products fell. Millions of developer hours were lost. The Twitter ecosystem shrank and so did Twitter's user growth. So if you're thinking about building anything with this company then be warned. If anything you've built is remotely popular, then it is only a matter of time before they come to pillage whatever you've built.
- sksksk 10y ago
  @replies and hashtags (one of the most successful features of twitter) came from third party apps,
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- minikites 10y ago
  Many things that make Twitter special were invented by the developers you mention: http://furbo.org/2011/03/11/twitterrific-firsts/ http://furbo.org/2011/03/11/twitterrific-firsts/ > First use of “tweet” to describe an update > First use of a bird icon. > First to support replies and conversations (in collaboration with Twitter engineering.) I think that's why this discussion thread is so negative, Twitter benefited immensely from the work of third party developers and then told them to go pound sand.
- Pigo 10y ago
  This is why I coined the phrase "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it" j/k So having a big release and advertising these 3rd party tools could be completely motivated by a need for someone else's innovation? Or are there businesses left standing who are innovating and successful with their services? They've worked great for me in the past, but I've never done anything beyond using them for OAuth or showing a hashtag list of tweets.
kragniz 10y ago
>These APIs are designed to help businesses use the entire Twitter platform If the only focus is on "customer experiences", why would I want to use this network as a regular user? I don't want endless brands and marketing.
scotchio 10y ago
Two things I really want: * Tweet count on a URL * Read a tweet feed without auth Also - the HN title is super misleading. The actual title is: "New APIs to power the future of customer engagement in Direct Messages".
lexalizer 10y ago
Yeah, thanks, but no thanks.
heavymark 10y ago
Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice...
- Pxtl 10y ago
  ... ... Can't get fooled again.
Clanan 10y ago
Regarding Twitter's history of killing APIs and 3rd-party dev; is there a bulletproof approach to setting up such an API/service with the guarantee that it will not be killed/ruined, short of business closure? A one-sided contract, so-to-speak?
woliveirajr 10y ago
It would be a good thing if, with this announcement, Twitter made a commitment for how this would have a support for the future. Like "this will be available for x months/years, you can make x requests per minute/hour/day, you can buy a plan offering x for $x dollars" and so on. Yes, that can limit some better offer in the future? Perhaps. But that make things more stable, and people would commit more to twitter. Can you change your terms in the future? Of course. But for newer customers. The ones that sign up right now will have that promises kept. Good for everybody.
- andypiper 10y ago
  That's a really good piece of feedback that I'll be sure to pass along. In terms of plans and pricing, we're not yet announcing those details, but stay tuned as the new APIs we reference in the two blog posts today mature. We'll continue to offer free access to the APIs as well.
  - AznHisoka 10y ago
    Will the free Search API have lower rate limits than they are currently?
    - andypiper 10y ago
      I cannot say definitively, but I don't believe there are plans to lower any limits. Additionally, given that the existing standard Search API has not been significantly enhanced in several years and the replacement is going to be based on the enterprise offerings, I'd expect the quality of the data to be a lot better than what you receive on the search endpoint today.
  - woliveirajr 10y ago
    :) thanks for considering it. Now I'll just wait for my 2 cents :)
kh_hk 10y ago
Omitting the obvious remarks on Twitter and APIs, this is clearly a good move. Most companies have a twitter handle and the public has already absorbed that fact, so it just seems more natural to offer a bot through twitter DM service than, let's say, telegram. I wonder what took them so long, considering that bots have also been natural to the twitter ecosystem for many years. This can increase their growth and possibly, if a company bot goes over their future non specified limits, they can cash in. Sorry, could not help myself :)
epaulson 10y ago
Bummer that it's all webhooks. They're pretty fragile. It'd be much nicer if Twitter had some kind of streaming API that you could connect to with a sequence number and get any messages that you might have missed, or at least any that they still have. Basically, Kafka over Websockets would be ideal.
- andypiper 10y ago
  In the early stages where we are now, we're finding the new architecture pretty robust. There's an acknowledgement back on our side with webhooks responses, so we can build features that ensure your apps never miss an activity.
toddkazakov 10y ago
We're deprecating a legacy OpenID connect implementation and rebuilding the entire user onboarding experience. Part of this requires rebuilding the authentication layer. This is the first time I used their APIs. Instead of sticking with the heard, twitter decided to stick to their OAuth1 implementation instead of adopting the standard today - OpenID. What's worse is that they've come with the ingenious OAuth Echo, which requires you to ship your mobile applications credentials embedded in the code, virtually public to anyone who decides to poke around.

112 points by technofide 10y ago

This is a good move, in a series of good moves recently, by the slowly-becoming-irrelevant service. I want to get excited by this API change, I really do. But I can't help but quash my own shower-thoughts about what I could do with this API, because what's to say they let their 3rd-party devs down again?[0] [0] - http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/23/3263481/twitter-api-third-party-developers http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/23/3263481/twitter-api-third-...

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

janwillemb 10y ago

They're aiming for the young or the forgetful developer, I assume? Twitter shutting down the APIs a few years ago wasn't generally considered the best way to get commitment from application developers.

John23832 10y ago
Maybe I'm misremembering, but wasn't that while Dorsey was gone? Maybe this is a new management direction?
- cocktailpeanuts 10y ago
  Twitter recently sold Fabric to Google. https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/18/google-twitter-fabric/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/18/google-twitter-fabric/ I never used Fabric even though it was extremely useful exactly because I knew Twitter will pull something like this. It's really not any single person's fault. The problem goes really way back when they made the decision to become a media instead of platform. Back then it could have become anything but now it's already been decided what Twitter is, so it's near impossible to change the direction. That's why little things like this is just waste of time and money.
andypiper 10y ago
"shutting down the APIs" - you mean, requiring authentication and adding rate-limiting? which meant that we could get on top of the fail whale and control platform stability? The APIs have been open and usable all the time.
- dbbk 10y ago
  Imposing a token limit on APIs with no recourse to lift it is effectively the same as shutting them down.
- piquadrat 10y ago
  Maybe he meant adding arbitrary token count limits out of the blue that forced countless 3rd party apps to close shop once they became successful? Or the fact that new features like polls are absent in the public APIs, years after they have been introduced? I'm sure you're very excited about these new APIs for #brand #engagement, but don't pretend that Twitter has been a great steward of its public API over the last few years.
  - andypiper 10y ago
    I'm not pretending - I've been responsible for the public-facing APIs (since 2014). We've launched mute, accessibility text for images, multi image and video upload, etc etc. We haven't added every single feature, but we've done what we have done in a very methodical and careful way that ensures platform stability. Polls are a complicated issue because they depend on cards, which are also not currently part of the API. By publishing a roadmap for the first time, we're providing visibility into what's coming. Thanks for the feedback!
    - piquadrat 10y ago
      In retrospect, my words were probably a bit harsh, sorry about that Andy. It's never a nice feeling having one's hard work shittalked by strangers on the Internet. A roadmap is definitely highly appreciated. Something I'd love to hear from Twitter is a definitive statement on 3rd party clients: are they a welcome and supported part of the Twitter platform, or is their existence a historical accident that have no role in the strategy going forward? (I'm aware that such a statement is probably not in Twitter's interest to make, but one can have dreams, right?)

codemac 10y ago

Ah, customer service at Twitter had a good run. Back to the bots!

0xCMP 10y ago

I'm a little confused about this: I see there are better DM apis which I guess is the big push here, but what is interesting to me is the new activity webhook api. Does that mean that a 3rd-party app will need a server to handle activity notifications to replicate what twitter does on their activity page?

cocktailpeanuts 10y ago

Who really trusts Twitter at this point for anything developer related? Not just talking about their API. Twitter never knew what they were doing, and that used to be fine, but the difference now is people finally figured out that Twitter doesn't know what they're doing. They keep releasing all these new features that are all over the place (AND worse than before). They should really stop, step back, and think about only a few core fundamental problems and work on those instead.

andypiper 10y ago
Thanks for the feedback. Can you be specific about the API features that you're referring to that are "all over the place"? I'm personally really excited about this, and this is probably the most cohesive a strategy I've seen for the API platform. We're very focused on fundamentals right now.
- shapov 10y ago
  From reading his comment it seems like his primary concern is the issue of trust. He goes on, "Not just talking about their API...". So I think the features he is referring to are user facing features, not API features.
- duskwuff 10y ago
  One really obvious one: Polls. Polls were introduced in October 2015. There is still no public API to create them, view them, or vote in them -- for users using third-party clients, polls are simply invisible.
  - andypiper 10y ago
    That's frustrating, I realise. It's probably the most common feature I'm asked about regularly (alongside group Direct Messages). Polls are complicated to add, as there are three aspects (creating, voting, and then seeing the results), and they depend on cards, which are also not currently part of the API. It would be good if we at least added the information that a poll is attached to a Tweet to the Tweet JSON object, even if we can't do all the other things right away. I'd suggest keeping an eye on the roadmap for where we're going, but can't promise those things right now.

ungzd 10y ago

More features for SMM and similar "almost spam" activities. I miss days when I was able to post tweets by simple curl command and third-party clients for reading Twitter were not banned.

JamesMcMinn 10y ago

As someone who uses Twitter's APIs heavily, this is both encouraging, and slightly terrifying. We draw down a lot of data from Twitter. Obviously, we always want more data, so we got in contact with GNIP to see what we could afford (which, in itself took a long time). As it turns out its incredibly expensive, and as a very early startup, we couldn't afford any of their plans. We had no option but to fall back to their standard, free APIs and make do. There are plenty of people who would happily pay good amounts of money for access to more Twitter data - there really are a million uses for it - however Twitter's current prices are far too high for anything other than a VC funded Silicon Valley startup to afford. I hate to think how many potential startups and cool projects have been killed off instantly simply because Twitter's prices are insane. You can get real-time global stock market tick data for a year for less than Twitter charge per month for access to the decahose. So, I'm glad to see Twitter being more open about their future plans, and really happy to see they're moving towards a more self-service paid API for those than want and can afford it. I just hope they make it affordable and don't kill off too much in the process. The last thing they need is to upset a lot of developers, again. Twitter's API has always been something they've not leveraged enough. All they had to do was keep it open, find a way of serving adds through 3rd party clients, and I suspect there would have been an explosion of good clients that could have made Twitter much easier to use for people who just can't figure Twitter out. Twitter shouldn't be complicated, but it is, and by trying to hold onto the brand as tightly as they have, they've prevented good developers from making easy to use clients that could have brought in users. I really want Twitter to succeed. I hope this is the start of a turnaround for Twitter.

frabcus 10y ago
In the market for Twitter data that we were in at ScraperWiki, it wasn't the price per Tweet that was too much, but the minimum spend and the difficulty of getting access to the data at all. https://scraperwiki.com/2014/08/the-story-of-getting-twitter-data-and-its-missing-middle/ https://scraperwiki.com/2014/08/the-story-of-getting-twitter... That aside, our treatment as potential partners was really bad. There just wasn't a process for new ideas to be brought to Twitter management attention. I wouldn't risk using their API for a business again.
10y ago

minikites 10y ago

I'm sure this API will be great news to those people who are harassed with hate speech every time they use Twitter. Since Twitter has an economic incentive to ignore that problem (if they do fix it, then their "user engagement" takes a nosedive) I don't think their future is particularly rosy.

victor9000 10y ago

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice? No thanks.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

sparrish 10y ago

Until they increase their API rate limits, this change is next to useless.

andypiper 10y ago
We increased the rate limits for a range of the API endpoints in the fall last year, in fact. The updates we announced today should also offer more and better data to developers as they scale.
- protomyth 10y ago
  You still cannot release a twitter client that doesn't get maxed at 100,000 users. Why bother implementing ideas when it will probably meet with the same problem due to our success.
  - andypiper 10y ago
    Well, the platform is not just about client apps, people use Twitter's data and features for all kinds of things. You're welcome to build on the platform if you've got a good idea.
    - protomyth 10y ago
      Well, my good idea was a client app, so no, I'm (and I suspect a good group of other) not welcome anymore. Frankly, it should be a lot more about client apps and new ways to use the information in a personal manner instead of creating an API that looks for all the world like something I can use to automate my support staff on twitter and fire a bunch of people.
    - zimmund 10y ago
      Building a useful client is a way to build on the platform. It's giving the users an alternative to use your platform... Twitter is so afraid of losing their users that it's becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.
    - 10y ago

la_oveja 10y ago

I really hope Twitter goes bankrupt and we all switch to an open alternative. That, or become an NGO.

crorella 10y ago

Twitter's swan song?

mschuster91 10y ago

Hey, looks like it will finally be possible to send pictures in DMs from 3rd party clients... can someone please confirm?

duskwuff 10y ago
I wouldn't hold my breath. It's entirely possible that the new DM APIs will be restricted to approved clients or accounts.
andypiper 10y ago
I believe Tweetings for Android has been updated to do so already.

electic 10y ago

A big history lesson and a big WARNING for anyone who is thinking of building anything with Twitter's APIs. Once this company, long ago, encouraged developers to use their APIs to build products and utilities. Developers heeded the call and flocked to the company's APIs. They built new clients and innovative solutions to make Twitter truly useful. Twitter grew fast with the developer's help and the developer's themselves did well. Many raised millions of dollars in VC funding to make vibrant companies around the Twitter ecosystem. Things were going well. Then Twitter became greedy. Twitter decided to destroy the very companies that grew Twitter's user base. They changed their TOS monthly outlawing various product categories. They banned clients. They put restrictive quotas on their APIs to starve out companies so they could reap their revenue for themselves. Hundreds of products fell. Millions of developer hours were lost. The Twitter ecosystem shrank and so did Twitter's user growth. So if you're thinking about building anything with this company then be warned. If anything you've built is remotely popular, then it is only a matter of time before they come to pillage whatever you've built.

sksksk 10y ago
@replies and hashtags (one of the most successful features of twitter) came from third party apps,
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
minikites 10y ago
Many things that make Twitter special were invented by the developers you mention: http://furbo.org/2011/03/11/twitterrific-firsts/ http://furbo.org/2011/03/11/twitterrific-firsts/ > First use of “tweet” to describe an update > First use of a bird icon. > First to support replies and conversations (in collaboration with Twitter engineering.) I think that's why this discussion thread is so negative, Twitter benefited immensely from the work of third party developers and then told them to go pound sand.
Pigo 10y ago
This is why I coined the phrase "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it" j/k So having a big release and advertising these 3rd party tools could be completely motivated by a need for someone else's innovation? Or are there businesses left standing who are innovating and successful with their services? They've worked great for me in the past, but I've never done anything beyond using them for OAuth or showing a hashtag list of tweets.

kragniz 10y ago

>These APIs are designed to help businesses use the entire Twitter platform If the only focus is on "customer experiences", why would I want to use this network as a regular user? I don't want endless brands and marketing.

scotchio 10y ago

Two things I really want: * Tweet count on a URL * Read a tweet feed without auth Also - the HN title is super misleading. The actual title is: "New APIs to power the future of customer engagement in Direct Messages".

lexalizer 10y ago

Yeah, thanks, but no thanks.

heavymark 10y ago

Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice...

Pxtl 10y ago
... ... Can't get fooled again.

Clanan 10y ago

Regarding Twitter's history of killing APIs and 3rd-party dev; is there a bulletproof approach to setting up such an API/service with the guarantee that it will not be killed/ruined, short of business closure? A one-sided contract, so-to-speak?

woliveirajr 10y ago

It would be a good thing if, with this announcement, Twitter made a commitment for how this would have a support for the future. Like "this will be available for x months/years, you can make x requests per minute/hour/day, you can buy a plan offering x for $x dollars" and so on. Yes, that can limit some better offer in the future? Perhaps. But that make things more stable, and people would commit more to twitter. Can you change your terms in the future? Of course. But for newer customers. The ones that sign up right now will have that promises kept. Good for everybody.

andypiper 10y ago
That's a really good piece of feedback that I'll be sure to pass along. In terms of plans and pricing, we're not yet announcing those details, but stay tuned as the new APIs we reference in the two blog posts today mature. We'll continue to offer free access to the APIs as well.
- AznHisoka 10y ago
  Will the free Search API have lower rate limits than they are currently?
  - andypiper 10y ago
    I cannot say definitively, but I don't believe there are plans to lower any limits. Additionally, given that the existing standard Search API has not been significantly enhanced in several years and the replacement is going to be based on the enterprise offerings, I'd expect the quality of the data to be a lot better than what you receive on the search endpoint today.
- woliveirajr 10y ago
  :) thanks for considering it. Now I'll just wait for my 2 cents :)

kh_hk 10y ago

Omitting the obvious remarks on Twitter and APIs, this is clearly a good move. Most companies have a twitter handle and the public has already absorbed that fact, so it just seems more natural to offer a bot through twitter DM service than, let's say, telegram. I wonder what took them so long, considering that bots have also been natural to the twitter ecosystem for many years. This can increase their growth and possibly, if a company bot goes over their future non specified limits, they can cash in. Sorry, could not help myself :)

epaulson 10y ago

Bummer that it's all webhooks. They're pretty fragile. It'd be much nicer if Twitter had some kind of streaming API that you could connect to with a sequence number and get any messages that you might have missed, or at least any that they still have. Basically, Kafka over Websockets would be ideal.

andypiper 10y ago
In the early stages where we are now, we're finding the new architecture pretty robust. There's an acknowledgement back on our side with webhooks responses, so we can build features that ensure your apps never miss an activity.

toddkazakov 10y ago

We're deprecating a legacy OpenID connect implementation and rebuilding the entire user onboarding experience. Part of this requires rebuilding the authentication layer. This is the first time I used their APIs. Instead of sticking with the heard, twitter decided to stick to their OAuth1 implementation instead of adopting the standard today - OpenID. What's worse is that they've come with the ingenious OAuth Echo, which requires you to ship your mobile applications credentials embedded in the code, virtually public to anyone who decides to poke around.