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What "threat" was TweetDeck? All Twitter has to do is pull their API key, come up with some story about third-party clients, and that is that. Twitter has alway
by Lewisham 15y ago
What "threat" was TweetDeck? All Twitter has to do is pull their API key, come up with some story about third-party clients, and that is that. Twitter has always been in the power position.
- code_duck 15y agoIt would be a very unpopular move, if nothing else. I don't know if TweetDeck has this much loyalty, but some companies in Twitter's position see 3rd party developers who grow large as a threat - members can grow to identify more with that developer than the underlying service.
- MatthewPhillips 15y agoThen why didn't they?
- Lewisham 15y agoMultiple reasons: 1. Goodwill with developers might be worth more than $40m in the long run. I think the argument about users is fallacious: users will find something else (because there aren't any rivals to Twitter itself) and quickly forget. Developers don't forget as quickly. 2. Maybe they actually liked the software and wanted to distribute it 3. Maybe it was a talent acquisition Anyone who has a business built on an API to another service is completely at the whims of that service, and pretending that you form some form of "threat" to the host is a dangerous move. I would hazard that the only company that has ever grown large enough to strong arm the host was Zynga with Facebook (see Zynga/Facebook Credits).