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Comment by Alupis | Hacker News Reader

Why does it seem it's only Twitter with this problem? (or at least the most frequent and public).

Twitter "hoses" developers all the time who were making money based on apps supporting Twitter. They "hose" the developer because Twitter would rather make that money instead of allowing others to, yet they then fail to capitalize on the vacuum they just created.

Over time, it's made Twitter a seemingly very unattractive platform to try to dev against. Twitter doesn't make much in terms of earnings on their own, it seems it would be in their best interest to allow an ecosystem around their platform.

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Twitter only has this problem because Twitter's earliest users were developers, who's development on top of Twitter also happened to be a significant part of why the company grew in the early days. So the perception is largely that they've screwed over the very people who helped them grow. Thus the frequent public outcry from those developers while Twitter reaps the rewards.

On the other hand, Facebook's earliest users were just college kids snapping pics of each other.

I think what Alupis was trying to say is that when Twitter screws over developers, they aren't actually successful at reaping the rewards. Twitter has basically been saying to developers, "if we can't make money off of the platform, no one can!"

Facebook has also done this repeatedly, but most of their issues aren't arbitrary business decisions. They just make breaking changes to production APIs all the time.

> but most of their issues aren't arbitrary business decisions.

Happens all the time. App.net was original an "app store" for facebook but they decided to make a competitor called App Center or something and told App.net they could either be acquired or shut down.

> Facebook has also done this repeatedly ... They just make breaking changes to production APIs all the time.

They do, but that doesn't slam the door shut on a developer/business purely for the sake of slamming the door shut on a developer/business.

From what I've seen, Facebook encourages API usage. Twitter encourages it until you make money, then they shut you down - often stating they're building a similar app/service and you'd be competing with them -- only then to never launch said app/service.

Twitter as a platform isn't worth much (as evidenced by year after year of not turning profits). The value in Twitter is the data - but they are locking it away.

Why not go the Google route and charge for API usage over a certain threshold. Twitter could stop caring what users do with the data, and make money as their ecosystem grows and becomes more successful.

It seems like the point of a API is to let third-party developers assume the risk of experimenting with new services. Then Twitter can acquire or copy the successful services.

> Then Twitter can acquire or copy the successful services.

I think this is what makes people so hostile towards Twitter.

Twitter neither clones successful services nor continues to run those they acquire. Instead they either shut them down, or acquire then shut them down - meanwhile completely missing opportunity after opportunity to capitalize on their massive ocean of data.

It seems, based on history, Twitter is not interested in running many services around the Twitter platform/API/data. Instead they really just want to be "Twitter".

I say, let them do what they do best - acquire data and build great API's. Let 3rd parties build Twitter's userbase and data, but charge them for access to the API. It's a simple monetization plan.

You can currently pay for GNIP if you want access to the API beyond what Twitter will give you for free. I have no idea if that will suffer the same issues of being cut off once you get popular enough, nor do I know how much it would cost, but it seems like they're at least vaguely headed in that direction.

It is true that FB routinely breaks the APIs. It is also true that they will kill your app if it gets too big and they don't like it. It has happened to me 2x, and I have seen it happen to other apps as well.

Right on. It's the failure to build in the vacuum that is most upsetting to me. There is so much value in Twitter users' content that could be used in new and interesting ways. However, the company both fails to innovate on that front and prohibits its community from innovating. It's standing squarely in the way of progress :(

Just another reason why Twitter should be a protocol, not a centralised service

Because the other big platforms don't have as good APIs, and don't monetize them? FB or Tumblr don't t make money selling data streams like Twitter. Twitter's API is incredibly complete and attractive.

It's even more unfortunate because of all the social media platforms, I think Twitter is the most naturally appealing for third-party development. It's very data driven, there is a good API, the data model and flow is clear, it's almost begging to be parsed and extended. If they are ever going to get anywhere, they really need to embrace this and empower developers to create cool stuff in the Twitter ecosystem.

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