Automattic plans to drop its WordPress plugin JetPack's ability to automatically tweet blog posts, citing Twitter's dramatic change to its API terms and pricing
The move also follows Automattic's ActivityPub acquisition, which positioned WordPress sites to connect with the Fediverse, including Mastodon. That makes distribution beyond a single social API more strategically relevant.
First-order effects
Jetpack users lose a built-in route for automatically sending new WordPress posts to Twitter, requiring manual posting or another publishing workflow.
Automattic avoids supporting the feature under Twitter's revised API terms and pricing, while Twitter loses an automated source of outbound publishing from those sites.
Second-order effects
Publishers that depend on social referral workflows may reassess which networks justify integration costs, particularly where platform access is paid or subject to changing terms.
Competing WordPress and social-publishing tools face the same API-cost decision: absorb the expense, charge customers, limit functionality, or steer users toward other channels.
Third-order effects
If major platforms continue to price or restrict publishing APIs, content-management vendors will shift from universal social syndication toward integrations they control or can sustain economically.
Automattic's ActivityPub investment suggests a broader move toward federated publishing connections as a hedge against dependence on one platform's distribution rules.
The trend: This is one data point in the shift from open-feeling social publishing integrations to paid, platform-governed access and more decentralized distribution options.
New post: 43% of the Web Can No Longer (Easily) Auto-Share to Twitter - https://www.disruptiveconversations.com / ... ... wherein I write about how Twitter's decision to impose huge prices on API access has caused Automattic …
Starting May 1, you will no longer be able to share https://wordpress.com/ posts automatically to Twitter using Jetpack Social. This decision came after a number of conversations with Twitter since their change to the terms & pricing of the Twitter API. https://jetpack.com/...
WordPress removing their Twitter integration is great for us indie developers. The pressure of not being a part of 43% of all websites might just be what need to get Twitter to introduce a sane pricing tier between $100 and $42,000. https://mashable.com/...
You can still auto-share your posts to Tumblr, Facebook, & Linkedin. You are able to share your posts to Twitter manually by pasting the post link into the body of your tweet. In the near future, we're adding the ability to auto-share to Instagram & Mastodon.
We wish the outcome had been different, but our customers are always our primary concern. We're not willing to compromise the experience or value you receive from Jetpack.
We apologize for any inconvenience this causes for your website and marketing efforts. The Twitter API cost increase is prohibitive for us to absorb without passing a significant price increase along to you, and we don't see that as an option.
so much time spent on “how are people using twitter and how can we monetize that” not enough time spent on “why does anyone use twitter and how can we make sure not to burn any of those bridges” https://twitter.com/...
In death-of-Twitter news, Wordpress's Jetpack will no longer enable auto-sharing of tweets owing to @elonmusk's API changes. https://jetpack.com/... Probably 100s of thousands of sites affected as Twitter steamrolls into irrelevancy. Luckily @HKFP uses @buffer. https://twitter.co…
First killing 3rd party clients and now killing 3rd party integrations by overpricing access to the API. Some of these decisions are so bad, even if you were trying to deliberately devalue Twitter they seem like overkill. At least now there's Bluesky🤷 https://mashable.com/...
Another day and another upsetting article about the debacle at Twitter. Sad to see everything fall apart in real-time. Millions of WordPress-powered websites can no longer share to Twitter, cut off by Elon's API decisions. https://mashable.com/...
WordPress stresses that it's only dropping Twitter users can still use the JetPack plugin to share to Facebook, LinkedIn, and even Tumblr WordPress is even going to add Instagram and Twitter alternative Mastodon in the near future https://mashable.com/...