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…until they look too hungry and startups become scared to build on top of a platform controlled by Twitter. Look at all the Twitter clients that vanished when t

• hartror 16y ago
  But that is the point really. Does Twitter need them anymore? Just like Facebook did, slowly cutting down the avenues that developers can access users will increase Twitter's revenue. Developers want an audience so they will jump through Twitter's hoops, just like they do for Apple. From Twitter's the point of view they're looking to monetize their massive user base, not sustain a startup ecosystem. They won't become overtly hostile to developers or anything but if there is a choice between profit and developers the developers will lose every time. Anyone who thought this was ever going to be another way once Twitter was established is a bit naive I'm afraid.
  • iampims 16y ago
    That’s a good question, “Does Twitter need developers anymore?”. I don’t have an answer to this, but alienating your developers, who are among your most fervent users, is risky. Besides games, what’s left for developers anyways, since Twitter reigns over url shortening, mobile Twitter clients, stats, geolocation, recommendations, advertising … edit: added advertising (through T&C) to the list