Many of Twitter’s defining features, such as “@“ replies and retweets, originally began as conventions that were standardized by third-party clients before Twitter natively incorporated them into the platform.

When they restricted access to their APIs and began tightening the screws to discourage third-party client development, Twitter began to stagnate because they no longer had a steady flow of new ideas to exploit. It also prevented third parties from providing the kind of user experience improvements and specializations that heavy users with large audiences relied on to make Twitter manageable. Without these things, the platform has deteriorated badly.

It isn’t surprising that they have circled back around to where they started and realized that they need third-party developers, but given how poorly they have treated the very people who drove Twitter’s initial success, I can’t imagine anybody is foolish enough to give them a second chance.