David, we are specifically talking about consumer clients. HootSuite and Seesmic are focused on a more enterprise or marketer audience as I called out at the bottom of the email.
Best, Ryan -- Ryan Sarver @rsarver <http://twitter.com/rsarver> On Sat, Mar 12, 2011 at 12:32 AM, David W <d_wy...@yahoo.com> wrote: > It seems a little confusing that you're basically saying "don't build > any more Twitter clients" and then call out the likes of Hoot Suite > and Seesmic as being examples of what people should be doing. At > heart they're just Twitter clients (that we shouldn't build any > more?) They also appear to be conflict with section 5e of the Ts & > Cs: "You may not use Twitter Content or other data collected from end > users of your Client to create or maintain a separate status update or > social network database or service." > > I guess what confuses me most, is the motivation behind this > announcement? I mean sure, no-one wants apps out there that take > advantage of end users and give them a rough ride, but as you said > yourself 90% of users aren't getting that experience and as someone > else said; good apps will always bubble to the top. > > I think it's incredibly disappointing to hear Twitter tell dev's not > to create clients any more. No developer sets out to create a bad > Twitter client. They set out to improve the Twitter experience, > because they believe they can and generally because they love > Twitter. Arguably Twitter wouldn't be where it is today if it weren't > for those that did exactly that. > > Unless we've all misunderstood what's been said here, then I'd > question investing any time or money into the focusing on what are, > today, areas "outside the mainstream consumer client experience". > Sure go ahead and innovate in the areas Twitter tells you you're > allowed to... for now. What happens when Twitter sees the new > innovation you've just discovered is really popular? Do we get > another announcement telling dev's not to develop that stuff any more? > > Like I say, I hope we've all misunderstood the message here (I really > do). I've no beef with the Ts & Cs. But please don't tell people to > stop developing clients that people work hard on and that users love. > > On Mar 11, 8:18 pm, Ryan Sarver <rsar...@twitter.com> wrote: > > Hey all, I’d like to give you an update about the state of the Twitter > > Platform and hopefully provide some much requested guidance. > > > > Since this time last year, Twitter use has skyrocketed. We’ve grown from > 48 > > million to 140 million tweets a day and we’re registering new accounts at > an > > all-time record. This massive base of users, publishers, and businesses > is > > a giant playground for developers to build their own businesses on, and > this > > means the opportunity has grown for everyone. > > > > With more people joining Twitter and accessing the service in multiple > ways, > > a consistent user experience is more crucial than ever. As we talked > about > > last April, this was our motivation for buying Tweetie and developing our > > own official iPhone app. It is the reason why we have developed official > > apps for the Mac, iPad, Android and Windows Phone, and worked with RIM on > > their Twitter for Blackberry app. As a result, the top five ways that > people > > access Twitter are official Twitter apps. > > > > Still, our user research shows that consumers continue to be confused by > the > > different ways that a fractured landscape of third-party Twitter clients > > display tweets and let users interact with core Twitter functions. For > > example, people get confused by websites or clients that display tweets > in a > > way that doesn’t follow our design guidelines, or when services put their > > own verbs on tweets instead of the ones used on Twitter. Similarly, a > > number of third-party consumer clients use their own versions of > suggested > > users, trends, and other data streams, confusing users in our network > even > > more. Users should be able to view, retweet, and reply to @nytimes’ > tweets > > the same way; see the same profile information about @whitehouse; and be > > able to join in the discussion around the same trending topics as > everyone > > else across Twitter. > > > > *A Consistent User Experience* > > Twitter is a network, and its network effects are driven by users seeing > and > > contributing to the network’s conversations. We need to ensure users can > > interact with Twitter the same way everywhere. Specifically: > > - *The mainstream consumer client experience*. Twitter will provide the > > primary mainstream consumer client experience on phones, computers, and > > other devices by which millions of people access Twitter content (tweets, > > trends, profiles, etc.), and send tweets. If there are too many ways to > use > > Twitter that are inconsistent with one another, we risk diffusing the > user > > experience. In addition, a number of client applications have repeatedly > > violated Twitter’s Terms of Service, including our user privacy policy. > > This demonstrates the risks associated with outsourcing the Twitter user > > experience to third parties. Twitter has to revoke literally hundreds of > > API tokens / apps a week as part of our trust and safety efforts, in > order > > to protect the user experience on our platform. > > - *Display of tweets in 3rd-party services*. We need to ensure that > tweets, > > and tweet actions, are rendered in a consistent way so that people have > the > > same experience with tweets no matter where they are. For example, some > > developers display “comment”, “like”, or other terms with tweets instead > of > > “follow, favorite, retweet, reply” - thus changing the core functions of > a > > tweet. > > > > With this in mind, we’ve updated our Terms of Service: > http://dev.twitter.com/pages/api_terms. > > > > *The Opportunity for Developers* > > Developers have told us that they’d like more guidance from us about the > > best opportunities to build on Twitter. More specifically, developers > ask > > us if they should build client apps that mimic or reproduce the > mainstream > > Twitter consumer client experience. The answer is no. > > > > If you are an existing developer of client apps, you can continue to > serve > > your user base, but we will be holding you to high standards to ensure > you > > do not violate users’ privacy, that you provide consistency in the user > > experience, and that you rigorously adhere to all areas of our Terms of > > Service. We have spoken with the major client applications in the > Twitter > > ecosystem about these needs on an ongoing basis, and will continue to > ensure > > a high bar is maintained. > > > > As we point out above, we need to move to a less fragmented world, where > > every user can experience Twitter in a consistent way. This is already > > happening organically - the number and market share of consumer client > apps > > that are not owned or operated by Twitter has been shrinking. According > to > > our data, 90% of active Twitter users use official Twitter apps on a > monthly > > basis. > > > > In contrast, the number of successful applications and companies in the > > Twitter ecosystem that focus on areas outside of the mainstream consumer > > client experience has grown quickly, and this is a trend we want to > continue > > to support and help grow. Twitter will always be a platform on which a > > smart developer with a great idea and some cool technology can build a > great > > company of his or her own. And, with record user growth, there has never > > been a better time to build into Twitter. > > > > Some key areas where ecosystem developers are thriving: > > - *Publisher tools*. Companies such as > > SocialFlow<http://www.socialflow.com/>help publishers optimize how > > they use Twitter, leading to increased user > > engagement and the production of the right tweet at the right time. > > - *Curation*. Mass Relevance <http://www.massrelevance.com/> and > > Sulia<http://www.sulia.com/>provide services for large media brands to > > select, display, and stream the > > most interesting and relevant tweets for a breaking news story, topic or > > event. > > - *Realtime data signals*. Hundreds of companies use real-time Twitter > > data as an input into ranking, ad targeting, or other aspects of > enhancing > > their own core products. Klout <http://klout.com/> is an example of a > > company which has taken this to the next level by using Twitter data to > > generate reputation scores for individuals. Similarly, > > Gnip<http://gnip.com/>syndicates Twitter data for licensing by third > > parties who want to use our > > real-time corpus for numerous applications (everything from hedge funds > to > > ranking scores). > > - *Social CRM, entreprise clients, and brand insights*. Companies such > as > > HootSuite <http://hootsuite.com/>, CoTweet <http://cotweet.com/>, > > Radian6<http://www.radian6.com/>, > > Seesmic <http://seesmic.com/>, and Crimson > > Hexagon<http://www.crimsonhexagon.com/>help brands, enterprises, and > > media companies tap into the zeitgeist about > > their brands on Twitter, and manage relationships with their consumers > using > > Twitter as a medium for interaction. > > - *Value-added content and vertical experiences*. Emerging services > like > > Formspring <http://www.formspring.me/>, Foursquare < > http://foursquare.com/>, > > Instagram <http://instagr.am/>, and Quora <http://www.quora.com/> have > built > > into Twitter by allowing users to share unique and valuable content to > their > > followers, while, in exchange, the services get broader reach, user > > acquisition, and traffic. > > > > A lot of Twitter’s success is attributable to a diverse ecosystem of more > > than 750,000 registered apps. We will continue to support this > innovation. > > We are excited to be working with our developer community to create a > > consistent and innovative experience for the many millions of users who > have > > come to depend on Twitter every day. > > > > As always, we welcome your feedback and questions. > > > > Best, Ryan > > @rsarver <http://twitter.com/rsarver> > > -- > Twitter developer documentation and resources: http://dev.twitter.com/doc > API updates via Twitter: http://twitter.com/twitterapi > Issues/Enhancements Tracker: > http://code.google.com/p/twitter-api/issues/list > Change your membership to this group: > http://groups.google.com/group/twitter-development-talk > -- Twitter developer documentation and resources: http://dev.twitter.com/doc API updates via Twitter: http://twitter.com/twitterapi Issues/Enhancements Tracker: http://code.google.com/p/twitter-api/issues/list Change your membership to this group: http://groups.google.com/group/twitter-development-talk
