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> A third-party Twitter client might be prettier and more functional than Twitter’s own client — shout out to Tweetbot! — but it certainly would not be more pro

> A third-party Twitter client might be prettier and more functional than Twitter’s own client — shout out to Tweetbot! — but it certainly would not be more profitable. I never understood this, why can't the API/firehose serve ads that would be presented in the 3rd-party apps? Additionally 90% of users would naturally gravitate to the default app regardless, leaving 3rd-parties for cool/interesting/advanced/innovative use-cases. I still feel this was a mistake - not as some hippy idealogue - but from a ruthless capitalist perspective. This was their like button.

egfx 7y ago
http://2fb.me http://2fb.me is an actual Twitter Like button. And btw a popular client integrating this protocol could be more profitable then Twitter. https://github.com/egfx/ShareableTweets https://github.com/egfx/ShareableTweets
vojta_letal 7y ago
Because there simply would be a 3th party app which would ignore the ads? If there was not I'd write one. Simple as that. FB and Google closing their XMPP gateways is an example of a similar issue.
- busymom0 7y ago
  They could state in their terms of services that the API key will only be valid if the developer doesn't hide the ads.
  - iamatworknow 7y ago
    Then why would I as a developer bother with it at all? I don't want to serve ads someone else is getting paid for from my app. And if my app was to be funded by ads, then what? Display twice the number of ads to the user?
    - ceejayoz 7y ago
      Tweetbot is a paid app. Its revenue model wouldn't be fundamentally affected by Twitter putting ads in the feeds it displays. I'd rather see ads in my feed than Twitter continue to make third-party clients less useful.
      - thinkloop 7y ago
        Or Twitter could share the ad profits a la YouTube to incentivise all kinds of innovative niche ui's. 3rd parties are not the enemy to be managed. They are a blessing - free engineers who managed the impossible of building a product with customers and traction. UI is a cost for Twitter.
DagAgren 7y ago
"Here is some data you can use you can use to make your user experience worse"

egfx 7y ago

http://2fb.me http://2fb.me is an actual Twitter Like button. And btw a popular client integrating this protocol could be more profitable then Twitter. https://github.com/egfx/ShareableTweets https://github.com/egfx/ShareableTweets

vojta_letal 7y ago

Because there simply would be a 3th party app which would ignore the ads? If there was not I'd write one. Simple as that. FB and Google closing their XMPP gateways is an example of a similar issue.

busymom0 7y ago
They could state in their terms of services that the API key will only be valid if the developer doesn't hide the ads.
- iamatworknow 7y ago
  Then why would I as a developer bother with it at all? I don't want to serve ads someone else is getting paid for from my app. And if my app was to be funded by ads, then what? Display twice the number of ads to the user?
  - ceejayoz 7y ago
    Tweetbot is a paid app. Its revenue model wouldn't be fundamentally affected by Twitter putting ads in the feeds it displays. I'd rather see ads in my feed than Twitter continue to make third-party clients less useful.
    - thinkloop 7y ago
      Or Twitter could share the ad profits a la YouTube to incentivise all kinds of innovative niche ui's. 3rd parties are not the enemy to be managed. They are a blessing - free engineers who managed the impossible of building a product with customers and traction. UI is a cost for Twitter.

DagAgren 7y ago

"Here is some data you can use you can use to make your user experience worse"