Twitter delays API change that may disable push notifications and auto-refreshing timelines on third-party clients like Tweetbot, promises 90 days change notice
Twitter's third-party client ecosystem — Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Talon, Tweetings — was braced for breakage when an API change threatened to kill push notifications and auto-refreshing timelines outright; this delay, with a promised 90-day notice window, is a reprieve won by developers publicly warning their users. The reprieve held only briefly: within weeks Twitter pushed the legacy API shutdown to August 16 while making the Account Activity API generally available and cutting free Premium Sandbox subscriptions to 15.
Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Talon, and Tweetings keep push notifications and live timelines working past the original cutoff, but now face a hard August 16 date instead of an undefined one.
Users of those clients get a 90-day notice window to decide whether to stay on a dying feature set or move to Twitter's official apps.
Second-order effects
Client developers start rationing their own products: Twitterrific removing notifications and streaming for new customers ahead of the deadline shifts its sales pitch to existing subscribers and pushes prospective buyers toward the official client.
With free sandbox access cut to 15 subscriptions, small developers are priced out of the Account Activity API, concentrating viable third-party clients among those willing to pay enterprise rates.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, third-party clients survive only as premium add-ons built on metered platform APIs — the access layer becomes a revenue line Twitter controls, not an open surface developers build on.
Platform owners learn that notice periods soften backlash without changing outcomes, making 'delay then sunset' the template for future API deprecations across social platforms.
The trend: Social platforms are converting open API ecosystems into gated, paid access layers, using staged deadlines and notice windows to migrate developers onto commercial terms.
Last year we announced our plan to retire Site Streams & User Streams, and replace them with the Account Activity API (currently in beta). We are delaying the scheduled June 19th deprecation date.
Hey wow, this is actually good news. Sort of. “We're probably still killing them, but we're going to wait a little while until the uproar dies down, then we'll kill them. We may not even announce when, to make sure it stays quiet.” http://twitter.com/...
Phew, Twitter just announced they're delaying the deprecation of the streaming APIs until the Account Activity API is widely available. Thanks for listening, @TwitterDev. http://twitter.com/...
Pay attention to this - because if they go forward with it, it will break most third party twitter apps with push notifications no longer functioning and timelines no longer automatically refreshing on anything but official apps http://twitter.com/...
Story updated: Twitter has postponed the change that would break 3rd party Twitter apps — but they may not be able to offer full functionality in the future once the change goes through. http://www.theverge.com/...
While I deeply understand the complexities of running Twitter's dev platform, and there are no easy decisions here, it would be a grave error to effectively end Mac support by killing Tweetbot. http://twitter.com/...
Twitter is making changes to its APIs that will break or limit features like live streaming in all third-party clients, including Twitterrific. Learn more http://apps-of-a-feather.com/ #BreakingMyTwitter
My life will be an endless series of fleeing decaying social networks in search of better ones. I've done it twice before with Compuserve and LiveJournal, I'm prepped for Twitter to implode. http://twitter.com/...
Twitter is going to break core functionality in Tweetbot, Twitteriffic, Talon, Tweetings, and more on June 19th. There's no announced fix. http://apps-of-a-feather.com/
I kind of doubt it. It's hard to say without even knowing if we'll get full access, partial access, have to pay for it, etc. but just from the way it works it doesn't seem like it'd be enough to really replicate the full live stream experience.
Hey @TwitterDev This isn't good for users. And in the long run, it isn't good for you: Crippling third-party clients doesn't make me use your own client/website more; it makes me use Twitter less. #BreakingMyTwitter http://apps-of-a-feather.com/
Twitter grew best and fastest because of third-party apps. I never use anything else. @twitterdev risks #breakingmytwitter (see http://t.co/...).I'd use it a lot less if forced to use the website. I don't care about Twitter polls. I want flexibility, third-party style.