I think Elon is just trying to boost revenue. They have a product that isn't being fully monetized, so he's trying to squeeze a little more out of it. Pretty good business move to be honest. I haven't checked the pricing for the basic tier, but as long as it's reasonable and most indie devs can afford it, I'd say this is a good move. (I've used the free API before for side projects, and I would probably pay for access as long as the price isn't too crazy)
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
#332I think Elon is just trying to boost revenue. They have a product that isn't being fully monetized, so he's trying to squeeze a little more out of it. Pretty good business move to be honest. I haven't checked the pricing for the basic tier, but as long as it's reasonable and most indie devs can afford it, I'd say this is a good move. (I've used the free API before for side projects, and I would probably pay for acces…
Aa a dev (indie or otherwise), wouldn't you be reluctant to invest more in a platform that did this?
Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API
#333I think Elon is just trying to boost revenue. They have a product that isn't being fully monetized, so he's trying to squeeze a little more out of it. Pretty good business move to be honest. I haven't checked the pricing for the basic tier, but as long as it's reasonable and most indie devs can afford it, I'd say this is a good move. (I've used the free API before for side projects, and I would probably pay for acces…
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Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API
#334Earlier quoted context omitted.
Classic sock-puppet usage is done through the web UI.
Is this kind of thing still possible with Buffer? I don't keep current with twitter manipulation tech. And do Buffer, RoundTeam and Hootsuite use the API directly? How A Twitter Fight Over Bernie Sanders Revealed A Network Of Fake Accounts https://www.huffpost.com/entry/democratic-bot-network-sally-... https://shareblueastroturf.netlify.app/
Buffer, Hootsuite, etc. use the API. The app/integration something was published via used to show up below tweets; Musk removed it. https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/15/23460186/elon-musk-twitt...
Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API
#335Enjoy https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katienotopoulos/twitter... just for the phrase "Vichy Twitter".
Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API
#336I reduced all my Twitter follows to basically road traffic and weather accounts. I'm wary about how much of this will continue to be available after these APIs go pay-only.
I don't think it's a problem to charge a basic fee for these things, but the inscrutability, randomness, and untrustworthiness of Twitter policies and products may reduce the adoption rate for these changes - even if the fee was only $5/mo.
Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API
#337Okay, 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…
> If there's a free tier, hobbyists and students can do interesting things with them, and this drives innovation.
What are some examples of innovative things that hobbyist and students have done with Twitter?
Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API
#338I don't buy that reason. Malicious bot owners will just run automated browsers and use the regular UI, or MITM the private API used by the apps. Sure, they're probably using the public API right now, but that's just for convenience. Bad actors will ways find a way, this only hurts legit bot owners.
Or they'll simply pay the toll and carry on as usual. It's a business expense to them. And now, if they get blocked, they can complain about it because they're a paying customer.
Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API
#339Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> End of an era; Twitter is dead. Whatever is left, it's not Twitter. Am-I the only one surprised the site still hasn't had a major (multi-hour) outage at this point? Considering the waves of resignations that hit the automated content filtering and bot mitigation teams, it's no wonder they are getting desperate.
> Am-I the only one surprised the site still hasn't had a major (multi-hour) outage at this point?
Twitter has had at least one multi-hour global outage since Musk took over. This is in addition to at least one outage in Australia, plus outages of other critical services. The API outage happened before the after-the-fact announcement, login and 2FA outages kept people out of the app, etc.
For what it's worth, I cannot access Twitter right now, and DownDetector suggests I'm not alone, so we might be having another outage starting just now.
Re: Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API
#340Earlier quoted context omitted.
Twitter can be profitable. It made over billion dollars in both 2018 and 2019 on revenues of $3 billion. 2020 was big loss but can blame the pandemic. 2021 was small loss but would have been profitable except for lawsuit settlement. Without Musk, Twitter would likely have been profitable in 2022. No extra debt, no fleeing advertisers, no massive cuts. Some layoffs like everyone else is doing would probably have been…
2020 was great for most online product revenue. Why is Twitter different?
Twitter was selling ads to companies slashing their ad budgets, not products to consumers with a lot more screen time and a lot less access to stores or to businesses newly dependent on the internet to coordinate their newly remote workforce.