What Twitter Stands to Gain From Killing Third-Party Apps
After bleeding a 40% revenue loss, Twitter is trying its best to plug leaky holes. Several developers encountered the worst shock after getting messages from their customers that the third-party apps that eased their job of posting consistent Twitter feeds have turned defunct. The brands relying on these third-party apps will have to rely on […]
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After bleeding a 40% revenue loss, Twitter is trying its best to plug leaky holes. Several developers encountered the worst shock after getting messages from their customers that the third-party apps that eased their job of posting consistent Twitter feeds have turned defunct.
The brands relying on these third-party apps will have to rely on Twitter indigenous apps for their customer reach. But are these solutions competitive enough, or will the Twitter developers be able to provide frequent updates to make marketers’ jobs easier?
If you type Twitterific’s web address in your search bar, you will stumble upon a headline reading like an obit piece which says, ‘Twitterrific has gone to the Great Birdhouse in the Sky’. This third-party app will no longer be available in the mobile app store. The app owners even went on to declare, “Twitterific’s sudden and undignified demise is due to an unannounced and undocumented policy change by an increasingly capricious Twitter – that they no longer recognise as trustworthy nor want to work with any longer.”
Twitterific is not alone in mourning. Tweetbot displays an image of a gravestone on its landing page in memory of the sudden demise of this third-party app shut down in the blink of an eye. The android app makers of Talon, Tweetings, Iconfactory and Fenix are pouring out on social media after Twitter secretly cut off Application Programming Interface (API) access and updated developer rules a week later.
These new rules state that developers can not use Twitter’s API or content to “create or attempt to create a substitute or similar service or product to the Twitter Applications”.
Responding to a question on whether Twitter took this decision to stop its revenue bleed, Craig Hockenberry, Founder at Iconfactory, replied, “Apps with Twitter’s API access had fewer user bases as compared to its first-party users.” Hockenberry added that if the microblogging website had pre-announced the deadline to pull off API access, third-party app makers like him would have dealt with it.
Not all third-party app manufacturers are sitting ducks, but they have started launching their apps for other platforms. Tapbots, the makers of Tweetbot, recently launched the Ivory app for Mastodon. Several app makers will likely follow suit and migrate to other platforms, as several brands have already stopped advertising on Twitter.
What Twitter Stands To Gain
Twitter recently reported a 40% drop in revenue after more prominent brands like Audi and Pfizer stopped advertising spending soon after Elon Musk took over Twitter for $44 billion in October last year.
As these third-party apps provide alternative ways to access Twitter by pulling off API access, the microblogging site is hopeful of compelling its users to use this platform directly, thereby boosting Twitter’s chances of getting more ad impressions. However, this decision impacts third-party app manufacturers’ ecosystems and brands relying on them to manage their feeds to ensure their thriving presence on the microblogging site.
In his Linkedin post, Aravinth Rajagopalan, Digital Marketing Consultant, says, “The Twitter API is beneficial as third-party developers can frequently produce effective and user-friendly tools that are more effective than those offered by Twitter.” He added that API access could stimulate industry innovation and creativity, resulting in more advanced techniques and improved services.
Users Dislike Twitter Alternatives
Brands need help with marketing on Twitter. With Twitter marketing tools, marketers can maintain consistency in their posts, have ease around creative posts, and carry out quick analyses of their reach. With Twitter retracting API access to third-party apps, users will have to choose an alternative like TweetDeck – acquired by Twitter six years ago. This social media management dashboard allows users to manage their Twitter accounts. Considering that Elon Musk fired almost the entire TweetDeck team, this alternative lacks new updates.
Steve Brazill, or Razz, a Southern California-based Live Music Photographer, emcee, and voice actor, declared that the longer the Twitter API is down, the more he dislikes it. He criticised Twitter for saying nothing even after the days of its decision. Though Twitter has not shared a reason behind this move, Brazill remarked that the native app is terrible compared to TweetBot. He tweeted, “I had already cancelled my @tweetbot by @tapbots subscription, unfortunately, and today I deleted the app – after waiting and hoping Elon would remember Wheaton’s Law.” Razz is not the only one. Celebrities across the sectors are unanimously protesting against this decision. How will brands react?
Conclusion:
Technologists are past the debate about APIs. The developer community believes it is useful because it makes software developers more productive. Without them, all developers would have to write and then maintain their own code to access remote resources. Twitter APIs were one of the most widely used, second perhaps only to Google Maps API.
With this move, marketers risk losing the ease of managing their Twitter feed. So in the future, they will train their in-house teams to use indigenous Twitter applications for brands operating their social media handles. There is good news in disguise, and they will likely witness more ad impressions if this works. Twitter will compel more users to use this platform directly. Is there more news in store?
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