Come code at Twitter's annotations hackfest | Hacker News Reader

Come code at Twitter's annotations hackfest

engineering.twitter.com

21 pointsmattknox12 comments

I realize I'm late posting this, but I'm a solid Rails hacker and would like to join / form a team for this hackathon. I just moved to the city and think this would be a good chance to meet other coders.

liked the idea. events like this one should be announced 1 month before, so you can get prepared, specially if you live far from SF.

I couldn't agree more. But then again there will be enough participants anyway I think.

See you there ;)

Note: It's only limited to 50 registrations...

The exact phrasing was "around 50", so I'd assume that there's leeway.

I'm the dude organizing it at twitter, and yeah, there is leeway. If we get hundreds of applicants, we obviously won't be able to let everyone in. But we'll let in everyone we can reasonably fit.

oh, awesome. thanks for clarifying!

Too bad I'm leaving SF on Wednesday... I think annotations are really cool.

I've lost interest in their API since they've implemented those ridiculous display requirements. After Facebook's and Twitter's recent changes I've become completely disillusioned about what the use of third party API's entail, especially social media. I don't blame them for looking after their self-interest, well at least not Twitter, but working with social media API's no longer seem fun or interesting. They seem like too much take and not enough give. It's clear they want ownership and control, and the only innovation they want is the kind they can directly benefit from. Again, nothing wrong with that, just not going to be their fucking lap dog.

Indeed.

I actually run a (quite profitable) social media app that works with Twitter.

But based on the last 6 months of API changes, I'm going to shut it down. I'd rather direct my energy towards something that I have 100% control of, rather than hobble on making little concessions here and there to comply with Twitter's ToS, as their platform matures. The long term picture doesn't look good for any Twitter app, really. Although on a long enough timeline the same could be said for building on any 3rd-party platform.

Like you say, nothing wrong with what they are doing - it's just good business - but I don't want to keep jumping through hoops anymore.

Building on Twitter was good fun, though. And it certainly helps early traction. But as time goes on and your app starts making more money and you start getting more serious about running it as a business (as opposed to a hobby project), Twitter becomes a liability, not an asset.

YMMV.

If its profitable, why don't you sell it instead of just "shutting it down"?

I wish it were that straightforward :) Selling it and migrating it to the buyer would be a pretty draining experience. I'd rather spend time on my other project :)

That and, none of the customer subscriptions are transferrable. The new buyer would only earn money from new customers.

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