LunatechJan 18, 2023
Dan Gillmor
The Twitter API lockout of third-party apps is only the latest reminder of centralization's most important rule: The platform owner has the right to capriciously wreck the businesses of people who accepted the platform's invitation to run a business on the platform.
Jan 18, 2023 at 12:51amWeb
Show threadDanatheoneJan 18, 2023
@dangillmor
I maintain my own website, if I post a piece I'll ballyhoo it out on social media never counting on them to be there for me, because that's not the deal, you are there for them
Show threadRob BellingerJan 18, 2023
@dangillmor Artists (musicians, bands photographers, etc.) learned this long ago, because platforms classified them as businesses.
Show threadMike PerhamJan 18, 2023
@dangillmor every generation has to relearn the term sharecropper.
Show threadDale Rutz (she/her)Jan 18, 2023
@dangillmor what is this twitter thing of which you speak? I understand that MySpace is making questionable decisions as well ... why should we care?
Show threadokanogen VerminEnemyFromWithinJan 18, 2023
@dangillmor
People don't think "cloud computing" falls in this category....
Show threadKansas GrantJan 18, 2023
@dangillmor And yet the #fediverse remains a tough sell to so many folks who've gotten screwed by that. Go figure.
Show threadMikko AlasaarelaJan 18, 2023
@KansasGrant @dangillmor The main challenge currently is that a subset of the Mastodon users are openly hostile to businesses joining the platform. Once it becomes inviting for businesses to join, they will.
Show threadKeithJan 18, 2023

@dangillmor Frankly, the idea that the capitalists are going build us a powerful communication tool that we can use to organize is preposterous. They will never let it happen.

People powered is the only way to go.

Otherwise, you're just the product, and they will do with you what they please.

Show threadJon (now at neuromatch.social)Jan 18, 2023

@dangillmor Like this reminder from 2015 ... https://www.infoworld.com/article/2908869/twitters-firehose-shut-off-is-the-newest-hazard-of-the-api-economy.html

And 2012 ... https://thenextweb.com/news/developers-bracing-themselves-for-twitter-api-retrictions-call-todays-post-ominous

The shut-off of Twitter's firehose is a hazard of the API economy

Twitter wants to sell access to its data directly via its own API set, but some see this as an innovation-destroying idea

InfoWorld
Show threadShoq 🌿Jan 18, 2023
@dangillmor I am still not even sure it was legal to shut down the first ecosystem. Before Reagan, I could swear there was an FTC fair trade reg (or norm) about such tactics. I know franchises can't later deny you what they lured you into business with, and you can't do business without.
Show threadZJan 18, 2023

@dangillmor this is why I don't understand people already planning on building businesses based on ChatGPT. I friggin love that stuff, it's evolutionary in my book, etc., it's not even that I don't trust OpenAI.

But relying on another business for yours to work is a staggering liability.

Show threadCassandrichJan 18, 2023
@smicur @dangillmor They're not planning businesses. They're planning exits. That's how startups and VC work.
Show threadZJan 18, 2023

@dalias @dangillmor wow, fair point, never thought about it that way.

Also sounds surprisingly more depressing this way, but oh well.

Show threadPēteris KrišjānisJan 18, 2023
@smicur @dalias @dangillmor it is depressing but it is true. This is how smart people coax money from people who don't know any better.
Show threadZJan 18, 2023

@peteriskrisjanis @dalias @dangillmor for the record, I don't mind it too much. If people around me were smarter than me, I'd starve to death as a software developer.

I mean, to some extent, they *are* smarter than me, but I can code I guess

Show threadPēteris KrišjānisJan 18, 2023
@smicur @dalias @dangillmor "If people around me were smarter than me, I'd starve to death as a software developer." this is sad state of things tbh. I have long avoided such tasks, but I completely understand people earning money that way.
Show threadZJan 18, 2023

@peteriskrisjanis @dalias @dangillmor I think it's sad only if the larger picture, which is capital-based economy is sad. Which is a stance I can totally accept, but I've come to terms by 30 with it.

To an extent.

Show threadbbennettesq Jan 18, 2023
@dangillmor see also d&d #ogl and #opendnd drama right now.
Show threadSir Dr Rusty o the Isle 🖤💛❤️Jan 18, 2023
@dangillmor exactly this
Show threadJohn BaileyJan 18, 2023

@dangillmor

#CannibalisticCapitalism

Show threadIαn has moved accountJan 18, 2023
@dangillmor
If anyone says to you
"this platform X is the only place to be! You absolutely 'have' to be on there if you want to get noticed."
The decision, at that moment, is critical. Live with the devil or keep some independence.
But 'never' blame the devil if you do a deal with them.
Show threadAral BalkanJan 18, 2023
@dangillmor But, Dan, Tim O’Reilly taught us we were helping build the “open web” if we used “Open APIs”… I’m so confused. Surely you’re not saying “Web 2.0” was a cynical scheme to get third-party developers to build tools to funnel even more people and data into centralised, surveillance-based platforms to accelerate their scaling until network effects kicked in, making those developers disposable in the process?
Show threadCassandrichJan 18, 2023
@aral @dangillmor "Web 2.0" was literally "the page doesn't have to reload from scratch when you post a comment or add something to your cart". All that other stuff they retcon'd into it. 😠
Show threadKazii The AvaliJan 18, 2023
@dalias @aral @dangillmor so it's web 2.5
Show threadKazii The AvaliJan 18, 2023
@aral @dangillmor yep. untill you hit a edge case or road block in those apis expecally the more spaghetti ones and suddenly those disposable devs are no longer disposable. ofcourse that is just a prediction from what i have seen in similar situations
Show threadBob Mottram :debian:Jan 18, 2023
@aral @dangillmor Yes
Show threadדוח אמין | Reliable ReportJan 18, 2023
@dangillmor
Since the "eco" in "ecosystem" always resonated with "ecology," perhaps a new term is due: Ecosystem Extinction Event.
Show threadSnagburzJan 18, 2023
@dangillmor
‎That makes the decision to remove your Twitter account easier. If you have a business, you better prepare it for such events. Use another platform for instance.
Show threadxs4me2Jan 18, 2023
@dangillmor
And that is why social media belong in the public domain, to avoid influences and commercial exploitation by biased (and erratic) private enterprise.
Show threadMatt ReathJan 18, 2023
@dangillmor I’m a bit on the fence on this one. I would always advise if someone is building a business or service based around a 3rd party API or service (cloud, twitter, etc.) that they have legal contractual protections for their business. For example that a 30 day notice of shutdown is provided or other needed protections. If those protections can’t be provided then I’d advise against the business or service.
Show threadPammyStarr   ✍️Jan 18, 2023
@dangillmor I pity those who are using their business Facebook page as their only “website” and customer list. They just don’t think these things through. Millions of small businesses will go out of business on the same day.
Show threadDROP\ TABLE Hacker of EarthseaJan 18, 2023
@dangillmor elon will never get his money back
Show threadIan BrodieJan 18, 2023
@dangillmor And, of course, who helped to build the popularity of the platform through the much-needed functionality provided by their add-ons.
Show threadKent BrewsterJan 18, 2023
@dangillmor Agree. I'm old enough to remember newspapers before Facebook made them all fire everyone and "pivot to video."
Show threadMerilee D. Karr, MD, MFAJan 19, 2023
@dangillmor
Righto.
I can’t imagine buying a car from that schmuck. Can you?
Show threadrespectmyplanet.orgJan 20, 2023
@dangillmor Never forget Elon Musk’s #1 motive: to silence free speech and freedom of press. He knows ppl are using the API to show with data that hate speech and disinformation has skyrocketed on Twitter. By denying the free speech of API users to show this with facts and data, he further insulates people who spread disinformation and hate. It is all by design.