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Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

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Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#241

Post by pessimizer »

krageon wrote: post #14
anigbrowl wrote: post #3

- announced at 10pm - basically a week to decide what to do with your dev project - No information to help you make that decision This seems like more management by manchild. I strongly suspect that Musk realized his promises of cutting down bots etc. were failing and that they either couldn't or wouldn't develop abuse detection, so he's decided to solve the problem by making it cost money, with the (perhaps desired)…

It's simple: Use the website. It will never stop working because people use it and you can automate and scrape it just fine. Kind of sucks that you have to go through the effort - but then there is no social media corporation that isn't toxic in some way to it's userbase.

The website is awful. It's horrific. It was the worst site I visited regularly until I started using Nitter instances. I'd rather not know what is going on than go to it. I wish they'd wind the UI back 10 years, to back when it was pleasant to browse.

Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#242

Post by pessimizer »

achr2 wrote: post #225
college_physics wrote: post #116

At some point I saw speculation that the idea is to turn twitter into some sort of super-app like wechat. If that is true then it makes sense to button down loose "ecosystem" thingies that were setup during a more innocent and hopeful era. This will probably destroy a whole bunch of use-cases and motivations for people and organizations to use twitter, but might retain enough of a core (mostly low-information) user b…

Who in their right mind would trust twitter with anything more 512 character banal musings after this tumultuous year? Mobile payments or secure messaging? Yikes!

Teslas are cars. They may accidentally race through Chinese cities at 150 miles an hour sometimes, but people still buy and drive them.

Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#243

Post by papito »

voytec wrote: post #209
snake_doc wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

API reads/writes don’t generate ad impressions. It’s really that simple. All the bot nonsense is rhetoric.

API calls just grabbing data may not generate impressions but people follow bots that utilize this API and (some) bot-generated content generates interactions: likes, shares, comments. Twitter may be heading closer towards becoming a ghost town.

I created a bunch of lists and basically just follow those, rarely engaging. In a way, I am thankful to Elon for helping me shed my compulsive Twitter usage. He unwittingly performed a public service.

Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#244

Post by bfeynman »

b800h wrote: post #132
hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your problem could be solved by providing read-only API for free - you don't need to write access to do academic research (unless you want to influence the discourse).

Providing a read-only API still costs Twitter money though. He's trying to make it profitable. Seems obvious that stuff like this would be cut.

yeah wow, imagine a company providing a free product in exchange for the externalities it provides like more traffic and marketing, unheard of!!

Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#245

Post by papito »

b800h wrote: post #132
hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your problem could be solved by providing read-only API for free - you don't need to write access to do academic research (unless you want to influence the discourse).

Providing a read-only API still costs Twitter money though. He's trying to make it profitable. Seems obvious that stuff like this would be cut.

Is this the guy who promised to "thermonuclear name and shame" the advertisers who no longer want to do business with him? Oh, it is!

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1588676939463946241

Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#246

Post by matwood »

lizzardbraind wrote: post #79
rsynnott wrote: post #60

Okay, so this one is nearly making me buy into those conspiracy theories that Musk is deliberately breaking Twitter because 4d chess (only nearly; this is incompetence rather than anything else). There's an argument to be had whether it makes sense for Twitter to have a free API tier. I personally think that it's obvious it should: - A lot of Twitter content/engagement is created by bots, and people quote-tweeting sa…

Personally, I like the theory that he's planning to discharge all of the debts he's run up in one fell swoop with a bankruptcy filing. It will be sad, but not unexpected if the courts let him get away with it. I wish I could buy a house with a mortgage in the house's name, make the house declare bankruptcy, and then keep ownership of it. Replace "house" with "Twitter", and that's the gambit. Although, the amount of d…

> I like the theory that he's planning to discharge all of the debts he's run up in one fell swoop with a bankruptcy filing.

And that theory is incorrect. If Twitter goes into bankruptcy, the shareholders are wiped out. Ownership goes to the banks. He could be trying to drive the cost of the debt down (supposedly already down 40% on the open market), so he can buy it. But, the banks aren't stupid. He will absolutely have to pay a premium to buy it back.

There is another card Elon could play - which is not pay the loan and force the banks to declare bankruptcy. Do the banks really want to own Twitter? Can they kick out Elon, get competent management and somehow make themselves whole on the loaned money? That's certainly a scenario, but one that can't look appealing to the banks.

Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#247

Post by rsynnott »

robga wrote: post #215
anigbrowl wrote: post #3

- announced at 10pm - basically a week to decide what to do with your dev project - No information to help you make that decision This seems like more management by manchild. I strongly suspect that Musk realized his promises of cutting down bots etc. were failing and that they either couldn't or wouldn't develop abuse detection, so he's decided to solve the problem by making it cost money, with the (perhaps desired)…

> basically a week to decide what to do with your dev project Even less for some. It seems further apps are being shut down in the run up because they have "violated Twitter Rules and policies”. Such as movetodon [0] - locked out today - a service which helps you connect to the fediverse accounts of twitter users you follow. And reports that debirdify is closed out too. [0] https://mastodon.social/@Tibor/109800904950…

Oof. I did a last pass migration last night, and noticed that movetodon was broken then, but I assumed it was due to load, rather than... this.

End of an era; Twitter is dead. Whatever is left, it's not Twitter.

Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#248

Post by college_physics »

Vespasian wrote: post #220
altacc wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's nothing more than a pipe dream. It seems that Twitter is bordering dysfunctional internally and is hemorrhaging money at the worst possible time (massive debts to support, slowing economy, less accessible loans). I think Twitter's current strategy is desperately trying to make money and stop the losses. Many APIs do have price tiers but it depends upon the business model, if the API is the product, or…

Also regulators in on some of Twitters core markets (EU and US) are not to fond of ginormous Techconglomerates at the moment and might have a few words to say about that. In fact the EU recently passed laws to nip budding "market dominant companies" before they take out all of the competition and bundle lots of unrelated services. The political climate soured with regards to Big Tech and that's happening across party…

The perplexing thing is that all these headwinds are fairly well known and for some time (even though probably internalized more by participants in this particular forum). So this raises the question whether there was any rationality attached to the infamous $44bln purchase. One could hypothesise that it was just a random, discretionary action, made possible by an insane system that has lost any sense of value, purpose or accountability.

In either case this story will definitely increase popcorn consumption.

Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#249

Post by patrickmay »

anigbrowl wrote: post #88
smoldesu wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If charging for API usage amounts to developer alienation, then why is Apple the most successful business in the world? Frankly, I don't think Musk much cares for the developers. From a business perspective, he might be right here - developers aren't the ones watching ads or paying for microtransactions, users are. The developers, at his scale, are a liability. Restricting their capabilities and profiting from their…

You don't need to pay to use Xcode, or to run apps on your own devices. If you publish to the app store I think there is a $99/year fee or something to have your app signed, plus they take 30% of your revenue. You don't absolutely need to have your code signed, I can give apps to my friends, they just get a warning about it not being signed and potentially unsafe when it's first installed.

15% unless your app is hugely popular.

Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API

#250

Post by pessimizer »

aaa_aaa wrote: post #178
akmarinov wrote: post #119

Guys, Twitter is we knew it is dead, it might even completely die soon. The sooner accounts like celebs, governments, etc realize it and move on - the better

Do you refer to yourself as `we`?

It's the PMC "we." Similar to the royal "we," except with more pleading.
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