Twitter Guidance for Developers: No More Clients

Every complex application ecosystem is susceptible to a bit of friction between partners, and Twitter seems to be no exception. Twitter wants to provide a consistent end user experience, much as Apple, Google (News - Alert) or other providers prefer. 

If there are too many ways to use Twitter that are inconsistent with one another, Twitter risks quality of experience. Also, a number of client applications have repeatedly violated Twitter’s Terms of Service, including our user privacy policy, Twitter says.

Twitter says it has to revoke literally hundreds of API tokens or apps a week as part of its trust and safety efforts. Twitter also wants to ensure that third-party services likewise are consistent. In other words, Twitter isn't big on creation of additional third-party clients or complementary apps that are inconsistent. 

Twitter does suggest that developers work in a number of other areas, such as "publisher tools."  Companies such as SocialFlow help publishers optimize how they use Twitter, leading to increased user engagement and the production of the right tweet at the right time, Twitter says.

 Curation is another area where Twitter encourages development.  Mass Relevance and Sulia 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, for example.

 "Realtime data signals" also are a promising area, Twitter says.  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 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 syndicates Twitter data for licensing by third parties.

Social CRM, entreprise clients, and brand insights companies such as HootSuite, CoTweet, Radian6, Seesmic (News - Alert), and Crimson Hexagon 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.

Finally, value-added content and vertical experiences are promising areas for further development, Twitter argues. 

https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en_US&pli=1#!topic/twitter-api-announce/yCzVnHqHIWo

It might cause a bit of friction from time to time, but similar sorts of issues obviously will arise in every ecosystem. These days, the older philosophical discussions about "open versus closed" are arguably less relevant than the growing role of "curated experiences." Twitter, no less than other platforms, has to balance encouragement of innovation with customer ease of use.