Twitterrific developer Craig Hockenberry calls Twitter's decision to ax APIs for third-party apps without notice a “shit show”, leaving customers in the lurch
Well, it happened. — We knew it was coming. — A prick pulled the plug. And what bothers me most about it is how Space Karen did it.
Twitterrific and its customers lose access to the Twitter service through the app, while Craig Hockenberry is left supporting a product whose core dependency was withdrawn without notice.
Twitter’s API decision simultaneously disables competing third-party clients, concentrating affected users in Twitter-controlled access paths.
Second-order effects
Independent client developers face a sharply weaker basis for maintaining or selling Twitter-focused products, because API availability can no longer be treated as a stable operating assumption.
Twitter’s handling of the cutoff compounds the developer friction created by its earlier API transition, making communication and contractual clarity part of the platform’s competitive relationship with its developer ecosystem.
Third-order effects
The episode points to a more closed social-platform model in which the operator can unilaterally decide which interfaces and user experiences reach its network, reducing the durable role of independent clients.
Repeated API retrenchment can shift platform innovation away from standalone clients and toward services that do not depend on Twitter’s access rules; the later cutoff of Movetodon shows the restriction extending beyond clients.
The trend: Twitter is moving from a historically supported third-party-client ecosystem toward operator-controlled access, with API policy serving as the enforcement mechanism.
What a lot of devs as well as creators want—just as much as an audience—is fairness. — Look at Twitter from top to bottom, what do you see? — Unfairness. — And sheer contempt seasoned with that unfairness. …
Because I'm getting yet another “Why do you care about Twitter” question. — 🙄 — I spent 7 years building *the* most used 3rd party Twitter client (Hootsuite). In fact, I was employee #8 at Hootsuite. …
@chockenberry A universal timeline sounds incredible. I was an early Twitterrific user, and I'm grateful for your work. Sorry to hear about your Mom—I lost my Dad a year ago, and it's still *weird* sometimes to not be able to pick up the phone and call him.
From @Chockenberry (creator of the very first Twitter app), on the plug getting pulled on Twitterrific. An angry read. An interesting read. https://furbo.org/...
“To say that Twitter's actions are disgraceful is an understatement. Whether or not they comply with Twitter's API terms of service, the lack of any advanced notice or explanation to developers is unprofessional and an unrecoverable breach of trust...” https://www.macstories.net/…
“What bothers me about Twitterrific's final day is that it was not dignified.” — An emotional post from the developer of Twitterific about Twitter blocking the app's API access and not even having the decency to make an official statement about it. https://furbo.org/...
I absolutely knew this would happen. If you know Twitter history the early popularity was built largely on third party apps and services. Then Twitter locked things down years ago. They had ironically just started to court third party devs again more before the sale. https://twit…
Tweetbot requested new API keys which were automatically granted and then manually revoked shortly after, still with no communication whatsoever. So yes, it's a personal vendetta https://tapbots.social/...
Craig Hockenberry of Twitterific's anger is fully justified https://furbo.org/... I know signing up for Mastodon can be a pain, but this invite link makes it easy: https://mastodon.social/... https://twitter.com/...