eFoxotJan 13, 2023
Ben Sandofsky

A tiny fraction of Twitter users use third-party apps. So put yourself in the shoes of a bean counter…

"We can't serve ads. We can't sell a subscription. The API costs money. If we kill the clients we lose a few users, but some will stick around."

It makes sense on a spreadsheet, but misses the users' value. They produce the content that brings you to Twitter.

Killing clients is exactly what you expect from people who just don't get social networks, and too arrogant to listen to those who do.

Jan 13, 2023 at 6:28pmWeb
Show thread@martin has movedJan 13, 2023
@sandofsky Amen.
Show threadAdam CookJan 13, 2023

@sandofsky I am not sure, but I can recall when Twitter tried to can their API entirely around 2012 or 2013... Twitter backtracked because I think it was discovered that an outsized number of Twitter's most influential/popular users ("power users") used third-party clients.

Seems to me that Musk cannot lose much more of those "few users".

Show threadKjetil KilhavnJan 14, 2023
@adamjcook @sandofsky It's 2023 now. A lot has changed since 2013, and that probably includes the proportion of profiled users that insist on using 3rd party clients.
Show threadAdam CookJan 14, 2023

@kjetil_kilhavn @sandofsky True.

I suppose that Musk will find out one way or another… in his traditionally haphazard fashion.

Show threadJohn GordonJan 14, 2023
@adamjcook @sandofsky If they haven’t left by now they can’t quit Twitter. I doubt any will truly leave over this. Musk can tighten the screws as much as he wants.
Show threadAdam CookJan 14, 2023
@jgordon @sandofsky Possibly. Everyone has their own limits I suppose…
Show threadUli Kusterer (Not a kitteh)Jan 13, 2023
@sandofsky Thing is: They *could* have served ads all this time. Nothing in the Twitter API keeps them from just serving ads as yet another tweet. They could even have changed their API TOS to prevent clients from filtering out ads. We probably would have grudgingly accepted that at the time. They just never bothered to do that.
Show threadRichard HylandJan 13, 2023
@uliwitness something I suggested for years
Show threadSörenJan 13, 2023
@uliwitness @sandofsky precisely. I would’ve been OK with ads in my Tweetbot timeline (on top of paying an annual Tweetbot subscription) if *that* was Twitter Inc.‘s objection.
Show threadFreediverXJan 13, 2023
@uliwitness @sandofsky That would have made me leave as well. I'll pay for a service I enjoy but I won't tolerate ads.
Show threadJonathan JoelsonJan 14, 2023

@uliwitness @sandofsky Ads would’ve made sense imo; the “charge users for API access” thing doesn’t really make sense because it would make the market way too small to support continuing development of 3rd party apps.

It only makes sense as a way to squeeze out a few dollars as you kill the 3rd party apps.

Show threadDonJan 13, 2023
@sandofsky and at least make a workable client. Official Twitter app sucks dirty bilgewater.
Show threadBrianJan 13, 2023
@sandofsky this, 100%
Show threadAdam WilliamsJan 13, 2023
@sandofsky Except that they charge for api use. in fact V2 costs even more, which is why apps like tweetbot had to collect a sub. But i suspect a certain billionaire has no idea how any of it actually works and just thinks “we're providing this for free why?” so he shut it down in ignorance would be my guess.
Show threadFuturist Jim CarrollJan 13, 2023
@sandofsky
Show threadDon WhitesideJan 13, 2023

@sandofsky I’ve never understood why they didn’t put ads into the feeds; I assume it was also a beancounter “not enough viewers to do the work” decision, combined with being less able to tailor the ads. But nothing would have prevented them from doing it, and any client that implemented ad avoidance could have had their API access shut off.

I didn’t MIND not seeing them, of course, but it was always weird they never materialized.

Show threadRob StahlneckerJan 13, 2023
@sandofsky He's betting the network effect will overcome the inconvenience and people will stick around on the official app now.
Show threadChip the AndroidJan 13, 2023
@sandofsky yup. hopefully they migrate to Mastodon soon and learn how amazing social media can be! 🤞
Show threadkeplernikoJan 13, 2023

@sandofsky This worked on me before I left the birdsite. I used Echofon and other 3rd party apps to read Twitter instead of the native client for years (we're talking from 2012 or so)--including the incredible and defunct Flock browser (I think from Opera?)--but over time the functionality diminished and I moved back to the native client a few years ago.

All for naught in the end as I've left and see no path to going back--but not a surprise this might be a final gasp to claw back some profit by shutting down the APIs.

Show threadAlex Barredo 📉Jan 13, 2023
@sandofsky don't big app publishers pay Twitter for some special API capacity?
Show threadLeonickJan 13, 2023

@sandofsky I’ve never understood why they can’t push out ads through the API. Aren’t most ads promoted tweets?

Or for that matter, since they have a subscription now, they could require a subscription to access Twitter via API/third party clients?

Show threadEnema CowboyJan 13, 2023
@sandofsky The only companies that accountants make great are the ones that sell accounting services.
Show threadJoe CotelleseJan 13, 2023
@sandofsky Anyone who's built a business on top of Twitter APIs should be taking a hard look at this. Even if you're not building a Twitter client, breaking changes could happen at anytime, without warning.
Show threadBen LovellJan 13, 2023
@sandofsky If that’s the logic, though, then why not kill the API entirely? Reports are that third-party apps with fewer users are still working.
Show threadKatherine ☘️Jan 13, 2023
@sandofsky Jokes on them I use the best third party app of them all: Revanced Twitter
Show threadChopJan 13, 2023
@sandofsky @Nolasox But don’t the third party clients pay fees to access the API? I read earlier total that the third party clients are a revenue stream to Twitter (and Twitter needs revenue). Maybe @paul can shed some light if he’s not answering thousands of support questions?
Show threadNathan Vander WiltJan 13, 2023
@sandofsky are we sure this is a specific decision, or could it still just be downtime on the wrong combo of services?
Show threadTomiJan 13, 2023
@sandofsky they should at least try to monetize those users. Killing it just for the sake of it makes no sense. Something along the lines of: if you want to use third party clients you need to be a Blue subscriber.
Show threadRonathon Livingston SeagullJan 13, 2023
@sandofsky I think it's OK to victim-blame here. I don't understand anyone who says "get on my back, Scorpion, I'm happy to carry you across the pond!"
Show threadMistyJan 13, 2023
@sandofsky My understanding is that apps like Tweetbot are actually paying for the Twitter 2.0 API. Rather than costing Twitter money, they were a revenue source. Maybe not enough to offset the lack of ads, but still a slightly different calculus.
Show threadJon WorthJan 13, 2023
@sandofsky This. Totally this. It’s one of the reasons I’m so optimistic about Mastodon.
Show threadBrad LovettJan 13, 2023
@sandofsky presumably this includes professional clients that agencies use to post to and monitor Twitter,such as Sprout Social and Agorapulse?
Show threadRoss (he/him)Jan 13, 2023
@sandofsky I swear it took me three times reading this to realize that "killing clients" was referring to software rather than people, and for a few moments I was really concerned about what Twitter had done now.
Show threadAliSnarkbarJan 14, 2023
@sandofsky at first I killed clients and they didn’t do anything, then I killed the voters and they didn’t do anything….
Show threadAndresJan 14, 2023

@sandofsky It was 2018 or 2019 when twitter made changes to their API that removed a significant amount of functionality. The 3rd-party client I was using at the time (Twidere) couldn't work around it, and the developer(s) gave up supporting twitter.

That was when I first tried Mastodon. It didn't stick then, but that's because there wasn't the massive amount of users we have now.

Show threadDrBob, 🧠 MechanicJan 14, 2023

@sandofsky @ChrisLawley May be true, but a lot of people using third-party apps are power users and I suppose post a lot, so remains to be seen with the final effect will be.

Would be nice if musk or one of his underlings would at least let us know what’s going on do you get the impression they could care less about their customers!

Show threadcxj ✅Jan 14, 2023
@sandofsky Yet another bean counter problem, just like the lack of technology upgrades at Southwest Airlines. Well said.
Show threadJoseph LordJan 14, 2023
@sandofsky It might be an experiment at this point. If they lose too many people or number of tweets sent they can “fix” it. If enough people move to the official app and carry on they can announce an end to 3rd party apps.
Show threadHilario OrtigosaJan 14, 2023
@sandofsky I think it had been a little less psychopathic to make the api access a premium feature (for those blue-but-another-blue subscriptions, you know) and give a time to those power users to convert to.
1/2
Show threadHilario OrtigosaJan 14, 2023

@sandofsky I’d been one of those users. But now I’m only thinking of what I hate so much of the Twitter new management, and why should I stay there. There is no strategy about users, there is no strategy at all, from the beginning: it’s only about a childish CEO thinking about ‘I need money - looking for money - I’ll make money from my weird idea of what this service is’

2/2

Show threadJLSigmanJan 14, 2023
@sandofsky It may also be a way to get them to use TweetDeck instead, which they can then monetize.
Show threadJohn GordonJan 14, 2023

@sandofsky

Of all Musk’s Twitter sins this is perhaps the least. Eliminating ads while using ad-funded service is something I do, but I wouldn’t be mad if the service kicked me off. This was going to happen with or without Musk.

The loss will be low; people who have stayed on Twitter will stay regardless of anything Musk does.

Show threadBrentJan 14, 2023
@sandofsky I see that with internal company apps with a small user base but outsized impact (100s of $ million). “Only 100 people use it, we don’t have time to make it better.” 🤦‍♂️
Show threadscfJan 14, 2023
@sandofsky I use a web browser, mobile or desktop. Works great. See almost no ads, maybe none at all.
Show threadArclightJan 14, 2023
@sandofsky My third-party Android client for Twitter makes (well, made) the service usable, far moreso than native clients. Its slow evolution meant it lagged behind all the misfeatures Twitter rolled out (algorithmic timeline, etc.) It didn't support what people didn't want or need, making it superior to the native experience. It doesn't matter now since Space Karen and his Nazi minions have taken over; in general, protocols and APIs > service-du-jour
Show threadkapowazJan 14, 2023
@sandofsky it’s the same lazy, shortsighted thinking behind the changes to verified accounts: more often than not, these accounts belonged to people who contributed the content that made Twitter interesting.
Show threadTim WindsorJan 16, 2023

@sandofsky It's the Velvet Underground Effect.

I forget who said this first: The Velvet Underground didn't sell a lot of records. But everyone who bought one started their own band.

The Velvets were what we call today influencers. So, too, were Tweetbot and Twitterific and their users influencers. They were the Twitter users who added value to the Twitter platform.

Elon added nothing.