Drastic twitter api changes rocking the development world.

[Kosmik]

So I'm not really seeing too much on mybb about this besides the first 3rd party article and yesterday's outage, partially of which I'm pretty sure THESE changes were responsible.
This info seems to only be available via Tweets and from the official Twitter Dev account.

In summary, Twitter announced on the 2nd February that it would start charging for api use and would suspend or alter current api interactions on the 9th, details to follow on the 9th.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1621026986784337922

Yesterday as promised, Twitter outlined the details announcing a new tier plans however they would only be available from the 13th.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1623467615539859456

For those who want to see the thread without going into Twitter, below are screenshots of the announcements.

2nd



9th


@Jan not sure if you think worth a article or not.

 

[Kosmik]

The problem with this is the heavy manner in which this is being handled from announcements to changes and rollouts.

Firstly, devs are informed a week before termination of services with no details of the proposed changes and amendments. This impacts multiple ecosystems, businesses and commerce globally.

Secondly, on the day of the changes, an announcement is made explaining the new tiers. A supposed extension was granted for the week of up to the 13th for current api users with new plans to be in place by then. Keep in mind, they have yet to open or expose the new plans for development to take place to actually utilize the plans.

While I can respect the need for money and the cost of apis, the manner in which this is being handled is really bad, to such an extent that there was a major twitter outage yesterday, including their own app, leading me to beleive, in my humble opinion that twitters own internal teams failed to communicate with each other or have these changes undergo full testing-staging-qa etc.

On a note around the cost changes. The new plans offer a Free basic tier allowing 1500 sent tweets a month. You can upgrade to a $100 plan but no details around what that gets you.

In comparison of the existing tiers, the entry level plan gave you 500k tweets. Also, it looks like the cost is going to be passed to the Twitter user vs app developer as the pricing is for every user token, including those used for just login to Twitter. Details are sketchy though so unsure.

 

[Kosmik]

As of yesterday evening, the developer portal was yet to be updated with any changes in billing, tiers or details around this.

 

[Kosmik]

Received Friday last week warning about Monday the 13th,

Hello,


We are excited to share some updates regarding the Twitter API so you can keep building and innovating with us. Twitter offers one of the world’s most powerful data sets, and our recent updates will enable you to continue to tap into all its potential.

Basic access

On February 13, we will introduce our new low-cost, basic access that offers a low level of API usage, and full access to Ads API for a $100 monthly fee. This basic access will replace our previous access levels (Essential, Elevated, and Academic Research). We will provide instructions on how to subscribe to the basic access through our website on Monday.

Limited free access

As this is extremely important to the developer ecosystem, we will also introduce a new form of free write access to the Twitter API limited to Tweet creation of up to 1,500 Tweets per month for a single authenticated user token, as well as including free access to Login with Twitter. If you are currently on a free tier and you want to take advantage of the new limited free access, no actions are necessary - you will automatically be switched to the new free access on February 13.

Premium API deprecation

On February 13, we will also deprecate the Premium API access. If you’re subscribed to Premium, you can apply for Enterprise access here to continue using these endpoints.

We truly believe that the developer community can continue to create value with our Twitter API. We hope you are excited about this new chapter of the Twitter Developer Platform as we continue to invest in our ecosystem’s success. Please continue to follow @TwitterDev for the latest updates.

Thank you,

The Twitter Developer Platform team

Lol, further update this morning, api delayed.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1625234161010343941

And the ONLY notifications of all this is mainly via the twitter dev account, no emails , website or blog posts.

 

[backstreetboy]

 

[Kosmik]

More like Miley Cyrus wrecking ball.

 

[Vorastra]

ROCKING and DESTROYING and RAVAGING the programming world.

Millions of programmers dead or homeless.

 

[Kosmik]

ROCKING and DESTROYING and RAVAGING the programming world.

Millions of programmers dead or homeless.

There have been a few app/company casualties, that's around the third party apps. Its just annoying the very very short notices that are dribbled out. Companies and software can adapt but they are literally giving windows of 7 odd days, if that, with gaps in between.

Tweetbot
Twitterrific

There are many non 3rd party apps though that directly use the api and the lack of information about implementation is very concerning. Once announced, that code still needs to be integrated, tested , staged and deployed.... something which the twitter team seem to be lacking at the moment.