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Twitpic is shutting down

blog.twitpic.com

51–60 of 155 posts

Re: Twitpic is shutting down

#51
post #19

Lesson to learn: don't tie down your service and/or brand to an existing brand/service. Otherwise you're both dependent of that service and/or at risk to get sued sooner or later.

This is a good point. I've heard of many companies learning this point the hard way.

Re: Twitpic is shutting down

#53
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Leo Laporte had "twit" first and gave Twitter permission to use it back in the beginning.

Leo Laporte likes to play up having "twit" in relation to twitter, but as far as trademarks, his claim would have been laughable. They aren't in the same business.

[deleted]

Re: Twitpic is shutting down

#54
post #28

Two lessons: 1. Don't base your entire business on another business' product. Especially one that has had such a hostile relationship with third parties. When the other business decides to discontinue your access to its service, or otherwise change things, or basically copy what you do under their own brand, you're screwed. 2. Don't create a similar name that will give you trouble in trademark disputes. (Seriously? T…

When they launched I remember thinking they were naming themselves that way for 2 reasons: 1. cause user confusion like you suggested, 2. try to flip to twitter itself.

I believe Twitpic was a 'weekend project' that Noah put together, that grew into a successful business. AFAIK there was not this level of intentionality behind it in the early days. I suspect twitpic was just the most obvious catchy name that came to mind.

Re: Twitpic is shutting down

#55
post #36
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Twitpic homepage[1] is also 404'ing big time, perhaps it's just a devops issue more than them pulling the plug before the sunset date? It almost seems like they're playing a little hardball and showing everyone what things will be like if they disappeared from the web, which seems to be what Twitter is threatening them with since they're unable to secure the use of their name and yet millions of images are linked…

> Twitter doesn't give a fuck about developers now that they have sufficiently used them to build their platform and brand. I really hate that this is the standard model for building startups these days. Make a free service, grow your userbase using investment money and by encouraging developers to build on your platform, then once users and developers are dependent on the platform, start littering it with ads, selli…

True in this case, but I don't see this being a trend and definitely not the "standard model for building startups". What are some other examples of companies that have done this?

Re: Twitpic is shutting down

#56
It's a shame Twitter has become so developer-hostile. When it first came out, I remember the excitement of using Twitter as a host platform for other apps. Now I couldn't imagine writing a line of code that interacts with their platform. It's a nightmare. I wish app.net had been more successful: it was clearly an attempt to ride the waves of that excitement after it'd been made clear that Twitter had jumped the shark.

Re: Twitpic is shutting down

#58
post #36
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Twitpic homepage[1] is also 404'ing big time, perhaps it's just a devops issue more than them pulling the plug before the sunset date? It almost seems like they're playing a little hardball and showing everyone what things will be like if they disappeared from the web, which seems to be what Twitter is threatening them with since they're unable to secure the use of their name and yet millions of images are linked…

> Twitter doesn't give a fuck about developers now that they have sufficiently used them to build their platform and brand. I really hate that this is the standard model for building startups these days. Make a free service, grow your userbase using investment money and by encouraging developers to build on your platform, then once users and developers are dependent on the platform, start littering it with ads, selli…

Legally speaking, most terms of service include a term which allows the provider to change everything in the future, without any limitation. Maybe developers are advised to develop for a platform only if the terms of service include some commitments which will be kept and not changed.

Re: Twitpic is shutting down

#59
post #28

Two lessons: 1. Don't base your entire business on another business' product. Especially one that has had such a hostile relationship with third parties. When the other business decides to discontinue your access to its service, or otherwise change things, or basically copy what you do under their own brand, you're screwed. 2. Don't create a similar name that will give you trouble in trademark disputes. (Seriously? T…

I'm not sure why anyone would dispute #1. Perhaps they interpret it too broadly.

You can have some success basing a business on another for a while maybe, but unless you have a solid agreement as to how that relationship works, the rug can be pulled out from under you at any moment. And that's usually what happens.

Re: Twitpic is shutting down

#60
To be perfectly honest, I am surprised to learn that twitpic is owned by a different company than twitter itself, which is precisely what trademark law is supposed to prevent.
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