Twitter has been spending money left and right, and it seems that every time we turn around, they’re doing something to demolish what people have been used to. Their reasoning, they claim, is that they’re working to “avoid having the user stream disrupted”. Personally, I think it’s because they would rather make the money from advertising themselves, and not allow others to gain financially from the use of their API. They’ve got to pay back their investors somehow… right?

So rather than hire the brains behind the great ideas, they’re going to once again render them useless. They’re playing a much meaner game than Monopoly here, simply because they can. They’ve got the big bucks, as proven by their recent spend of $40M on TweetDeck.

I’m not a fan of web companies forgetting where they came from. I was actually okay with the purchase of TweetDeck, because it meant that the TD devs were recognized for their hard work in some way that actually satisfied them. I’m also aware that they can’t simply go around buying up existing companies, and that for all we know, they did try to buy up Twitpic and were refused. I’m sure we’ll find these things out sooner or later, but for the time being, I think it’s just pretty crappy to take over others’ ideas and make them your own because you’re afraid they’re making money you should be making.

Am I being unreasonable? I’m all for businesses growing, making more money, etc. but I’ve got issue with stepping on the hands of those that have fed you for years.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter Kicks More 3rd Party Sites To The Curb

I’ve previously written about Twitter’s behavior towards its third-party developers and the risks they’re taking if they focus only on developing Twitter-based tools (See Twitter Commits Suicide and Twipocalypse Now). The bottom line is that building a business that is entirely dependent on a single partner isn’t a safe model to follow.

Surprise, Surprise?

So, should Twitter’s actions come as any surprise?

Yes! And, No.

Yes, because Twitter was built on the backs of tens of thousands of third-party developers who added much need functionality and played a key role making Twitter what it is today. These third-party developers, along with the broader Twitter community, were the ones who implemented hash tags, RTs, @ replies and many of the features that Twitter now takes for granted. Even Evan Williams, one of Twitter’s co-Founders, admitted as much at the 2009 TED Conference. See the embedded video below (thanks to Tac Anderson reminding me about this in his post Twitter Grows Up Figures Out Its Business Model And Doesn’t Need You Anymore).

And, No, because there has been ample warning about the risk of developing for Twitter – just read my posts mentioned above, and I certainly was not alone. Also, in their announcement, Twitter stated that enterprise tools such as Seesmic and HootSuite and special-purpose apps are welcome.

So, why is Twitter doing this?

For some insight, consider the following:

• Usage: While Twitter claims that 90% of users are using official Twitter apps, the blog Mashable disagrees claiming that only 58% of Twitter users access the service through official Twitter apps. That leaves a whopping 42% who never see the Twitter home page or those Twitter apps. This means that 42% of Twitter’s users may never see any of the various advertising features that Twitter has been counting on to actually justify its valuation.
• Money: Investors have poured $360 Million into the company over the past 5 years and it’s easy to understand why they might want an out. While these investors certainly could find eager buyers for their shares, they want to maximize their returns. That means pumping up the valuation of the company and finding an appropriate buyer who can afford it.

Buyer Beware

Unfortunately, there aren’t too many adequate suitors for the company, especially when it has a rumored price tag of $8-10 Billion. In order to justify that valuation Twitter needs to do the following:

• Work the kinks out of its advertising model so it can maximize ad revenue. To do this, Twitter needs to…
• Increase the number of people who use Twitter properties, thus maximizing exposure to those ads. To do this, Twitter needs to…
• Get those users to stop using third-party apps and “come home.” To do this it needs to…
• Kick those third-party apps out of the loop. This ultimately means putting an end to the Twitter ecosystem. To do this, Twitter needs to…
• Prevent third-party app developers from getting into the game and making conditions for those who are already there too difficult for them to operate, thus they’ll be forced to close down. To do this, Twitter needs to…
• Add more features to its properties. Something it’s already been doing.

My Prediction

I could go on, but to me the path is clear; within the next 12-24 months, as Twitter slowly improves its mobile apps and website, it will eventually cut off ALL third-party apps including TweetDeck and Seesmic. Then, once its numbers (traffic and review) demonstrate clear upward momentum, it will be sold to the highest bidder. Perhaps after that, Twitter’s new owners will remember the goldmine of innovation that Twitter’s third-party developers provided the company and invite them to return

One can only hope.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Neal Wiser is Vice President of Digital Strategy and Operations at The ODM Group where he leads teams in the creation and execution of digital marketing campaigns. You can follow Neal on Twitter (his handle is @NealWiser). Neal is also the Cofounder and Co-host of the Addicted to Social Media podcast.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter’s Black Friday Signals an Exit Strategy

A note from the Editor: After a too-long haitus, Twitip is back. We’ve got some great posts lined up, and we’re always looking for more. This post by Neal Wiser is the kickoff post to our return to a regular posting schedule. Thank you to all who have stayed with us! – Lara

A few weeks ago, Iain Dodsworth, founder and CEO of TweetDeck, introduced Deck.ly, a new component to TweetDeck that allows users to send tweets greater than 140 characters in length. While exceeding the 140 character limit is controversial to some Twitter purists, other services, such as TwitLonger, do the same. But what makes the Deck.ly move different is that it gives Dodsworth, whose TweetDeck has millions of users, the potential to free TweetDeck from its dependence on Twitter.

Or does it?

On the heels of the Deck.ly announcement, TweetDeck was acquired by UberMedia who already owns several other Twitter apps. Yet almost as soon as UberMedia announced the TweetDeck acquisition, Twitter fired a warning shot across UberMedia’s bow by cutting off access to UberMedia’s Echofon, UberTwitter, Twidroyd and UberCurrent apps for alleged policy violations.

TweetDeck, which is highly, but not wholly dependent upon Twitter (it also allows users to connect to other social networks such as Facebook and Linkedin), continued to operate normally during the shutdown. Perhaps it’s because with the TweetDeck acquisition UberMedia now controls an estimated 20% of the world’s daily tweets and TweetDeck represents the vast majority of that traffic. Any wholesale shutdown of UberMedia that includes TweetDeck would be extremely damaging to Twitter. Conversely, the vast majority of TweetDeck’s traffic goes to Twitter. Clearly, ending the Twitter/TweetDeck relationship, at least for now, would be something close to Mutual Assured Destruction.

The Shot Heard Around the World

Schoolhouse Rock

As I stated in my post Twitter Commits Suicide (or Twipocalypse Now: Redux), third party developers who don’t expand their services beyond Twitter are at serious risk. If Twitter’s move to cut off access to UberMedia’s apps isn’t convincing enough, the previous week Twitter announced that it’s no longer going to “white label” access to its API effectively choking off other app’s access. It’s sad to say, but it looks like the Twitter ecosystem’s days, in its present form, may be numbered.

To be sure, many developers are trying to expand their business models beyond Twitter, but only TweetDeck and Seesmic have any hope of success due to the sizes of their user bases (listen to my interview with Seesmic founder Loic Le Meur where we discussed Twitter dependency). Ironically, Deck.ly actually offers Twitter its biggest opportunity to make dramatic, and perhaps necessary, changes to its platform.

While the 140 character limit has been in place since Twitter’s launch, many users have felt constrained by that limit. Others hold the limits in near reverence and consider it an integral part of what makes Twitter Twitter. Yet this may be Twitter’s big opportunity to break free of that albatross. With its new funding and new leadership, this could be Twitter’s chance to innovate and do something truly bold.

Only Nixon Could go to China

For years, Twitter has depended upon its ecosystem of third-party developers for innovation. The results have been some fantastic tools and services that have added significant value to the overall Twitter experience. Creating an environment to allow this to happen was a brilliant move on behalf of Twitter’s creators. Unfortunately, Twitter’s behavior towards their developers over the past year has been less than encouraging (again, see Twitter Commits Suicide (or Twipocalypse Now: Redux).

The problem is that Twitter thinks it needs to drive traffic to twitter.com to make their advertising products pay off. But the reality is that, in its present form, Twitter is so feature poor and so much traffic access twitter through other means (via those third-party apps) that continuing to develop twitter.com, and alienating those third-party developers in the process, is both a distraction and foolish.

Where Nixon went to China, Twitter should focus on continuing to develop itself as a platform, not as a destination. As a platform, Twitter could finally stabilize itself and put an end to the notorious Fail Whale (who showed its blowhole again just this past week). Twitter could then figure out how to actually make money while simultaneously prompting continued innovation by its third-party developers and perhaps even invigorating them by allowing them to share in revenue that could come through those apps.

As Jeff Pester correctly stated, “Twitter is an information utility – it’s admitted as much on several occasions. It should start acting and pricing its product like one.”

What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

Neal Wiser is Vice President of Digital Strategy and Operations at The ODM Group where he leads teams in the creation and execution of digital marketing campaigns. You can follow Neal on Twitter (his handle is @NealWiser). Neal is also the Cofounder and Co-host of the Addicted to Social Media podcast.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



The End of the 140 Character Tweet and its Repercussions

It looks like Twitter has finally made up its mind regarding third party tweet ad services (like Be-A-Magpie, BeTweeted and the infamous Sponsored Tweets via IZEA) and the verdict is “no ads for you!”

Then I head over to Sponsored Tweets and check out what they’ve got to say: Changes Coming to Sponsored Tweets

We are going to make some changes to the way Sponsored Tweets works. We will no longer be publishing directly to your account through the Twitter API. Instead you will have to write the tweet yourself in whatever Twitter client you see fit.

Yes, it will be a more manual process. Yes, we liked the old way better too. But we want to comply with Twitters guidelines and be a good ecosystem partner. We have always made adjustments to our system to remain in compliance. Twitter has allotted 30 days to make this change, we will try to get it out as soon as we can. Until then it is business as usual.

Seems some people are thrilled, and some are absolutely irate. Basically, Twitter seems to not be telling us what we can and can’t post, but rather HOW we post it.

… we will not allow any third party to inject paid tweets into a timeline on any service that leverages the Twitter API. We are updating our Terms of Service to articulate clearly what we mean by this statement, and we encourage you to read the updated API Terms of Service to be released shortly. (Twitter Blog)

So it’s not that you can’t, it’s just that by doing things this way, it makes it more annoying for you and they’re hoping you give up entirely.

They claim it’s for the “long term health of the Twitter ecosystem”. Some feel that it’s simply because they don’t want anyone making money until they do.

What are your thoughts?

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter Puts The Kibosh On Automatic Ads

Just over a year ago, I wrote Twipocalypse Now: Warnings of a Twitter Bubble and Twitter Fatigue: Rumors of Twitter’s Demise May Not Be Greatly Exaggerated for Twitip. In those posts, I suggested that Twitter and their third-party developers faced significant threats that would need to be addressed in order for Twitter and its ecosystem to not just survive, but to continue to flourish.

I had originally planned on revisiting those topics 6 months later to see how accurate my predictions were. However, Twitter’s rapid growth and evolution suggested something dramatic was on the horizon, so I decided to wait and see what would happen.

Well, something did happen. But it wasn’t exactly the Twitter 2.0 I was expecting. Indeed, while Twitter finally revealed a business model, they also demonstrated a change of business tactics that may ultimately prove to be self-destructive.

Twitter 2.0, Suicide or Bust

In my previous posts, I said that Twitter was evolving so fast that it might become unrecognizable. This Twitter 2.0 would boast massive changes to features, functionality and layout. The Twitter 2.0 era finally began when Fred Wilson, a partner at Union Square Ventures who invested in Twitter and sits on its board, posted The Twitter Platform’s Inflection Point, a controversial analysis suggesting, among other things, that Twitter might ultimately compete with its own third-party developers.

Within days Twitter announced that it has acquired Tweetie, one of the most popular Twitter iPhone apps, and will rename it Twitter for iPhone (it’ll also be free). Then, Twitter co-founder and CEO Evan Williams announced that Twitter had also made a Twitter app for the Blackberry. In the days since, Twitter has announced their own app for Android phones and its own URL shortener.

And if that wasn’t enough, Twitter also announced that they would finally launch an ad platform (the aforementioned business model) effectively dropping napalm on Tweetup, the new third-party twitter-based ad platform that idealab announced the previous day.

The Redux Reflux

Clearly Twitter needs to evolve, but it should do so by embracing its developer community, not alienating it or taking it for granted which is what it appears to be doing. By building its own URL shortener and a rumored photo sharing service like twitpic, Twitter is sending the message that if it likes an app or service and for whatever reason can’t or won’t buy it, that it’ll just steal the idea and build its own.

Furthermore, buying Tweetie and releasing apps for the other major mobile platforms has effectively shut out all mobile app developers. Unless those developers come up with something truly unique, the game’s over. To say that this past week must have made all third-party app developers nauseous is an understatement.

While people like angel investor Chris Sacca urged developers to ‘stay the course’, one has to wonder what possible incentive they would have to do so. Twitter has effectively turned its back on the very people who helped propel the service into the stratosphere with the creation of hundreds of services and apps that extended Twitter’s utility and filled gaping holes in its functionality.

Surprise, Surprise!

None of this should come as any surprise if you read Twipocalypse Now where I suggested that Twitter could compete with their developers. I just didn’t really think they would.

I also warned about third party services with questionable or no business models being dependent upon a single service which itself has no business model. Certainly being a third-party developer for any service is risky business, but unlike TweetDeck or Seesmic (listen to my interview with Seesmic founder Loic Le Meur where we discussed Twitter dependency) who have broadened their services beyond Twitter, almost all of the other Twitter apps and services are exclusively tied to Twitter.

Oops!

So, What?

So, it appears that Twitter may be intentionally using its community of third-party developers as a free R&D office by letting them assume all of the risk of enhancing the service. Surely, this isn’t a new accusation and there are certainly developers who will happily assume that risk, but what was once pure conjecture appears to be turning into fact, and appearances do matter.

The implications of all this cannot be understated. Twitter remains hugely dependant on those third-party developers, perhaps much more than it is aware. If Twitter continues to alienate them and continues to create an atmosphere where developers have little if any incentive to participate, it will stifle a vital source of innovation. Without an incentive, third-party apps and services will ultimately be abandoned by their creators with as many as 99% ultimately dying.

As a result, much of what makes Twitter so popular will cease to exist and a large number of Twitter’s users may just leave. In short, Twitter needs that innovation engine, and in technology, innovation is life.

“I’ve Created a Monster!”

Finally, if all that wasn’t enough, Twitter may have also unintentionally created new competitor as many angry twitter app-makers are now planning how to replace Twitter. While only in the early stages, these developers are experienced innovators and experts in various aspects of Twitter’s platform. I wouldn’t discount them, especially since anger has always been a powerful motivator. It will be fascinating to see what sort of Phoenix will arise from the ashes of all those Twitter apps.

When all is said and done, it would be a shame if the service we’ve come to love so much dies by its own hand. Of course, it’s not like we haven’t seen that before either.

Further Reading:

Twipocalypse Now: Warnings of a Twitter Bubble
Twitter Fatigue: Rumors of Twitter’s Demise May Not Be Greatly Exaggerated
Who just got screwed by Twitter

Neal Wiser is President of Neal Wiser Consulting and Co-Founder of Addicted to Social Media. With over 15 years experience in the Internet, Interactive Marketing and entertainment industries, Neal is strongly focused on helping businesses maximize their connections, relationships and results with their customers and clients. Neal has worked for Comcast, GlaxoSmithKline, Qwest Communications, Paramount Pictures and Warner Brothers and his clients have included the United States Postal Service, Hyundai, DreamWorks Studios, Major League Baseball, over 20 major pharmaceutical brands and NASA. If you would like to contact Neal, he can be reached via Twitter @NealWiser. You can read more Twitip posts by Neal here.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter Commits Suicide (or Twipocalypse Now: Redux)

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



The History of Twitter’s Valuation [Infographic]

Developers and beginners can use the Apigee console to learn, experiment, test, or explore the Twitter API.

As you can see, each API method is listed down the left hand side. You can use these methods to explore different aspects and functions of the Twitter API. Choose the method you want to use, customize any parameter values, such as screen_name and ID, and hit the Test button. The Apigee console will then issue an API call and you’ll then see a cleanly-formatted response as well as the original request and response headers for the call. What does this mean for the developer? Well, it gives them unprecedented ease of use.

For API methods that require authentication, you can use HTTP basic authentication (a straight username and password). Better still, you can even sign in to Twitter and use that same authentication to sign API calls using OAuth (the system under “sign in with Twitter”). This is incredibly helpful for developers using the Twitter API because no other free tools support OAuth for Twitter methods.

But, possibly the best feature of all is the Snapshot. With Snapshot, any request and response you make with the API Console can be cached and shared with anyone else without your credentials. This is really helpful because it means that when you are trying to get help from someone else for a particular API response, you can just share your Snapshot of the call with them. Fabulous!

Start playing (for free) with the Apigee Console for Twitter!

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Use Apigee to Learn About the Twitter API

Days into launch, the official application for Blackberry called (what a shock!) “Twitter for BlackBerry”, is showing a steady growth in user base according to Twitter client usage measurement site Clientopedia.com scoring some solid 2% of total tweets in less than a week. Which means that Twitter crowd is adopting the new app quite good and it has a potential to squeeze some loyal user out of Ubertwitter – the current leader app for Blackberry platform and, in fact, in total usage among non-official Twitter clients.

Only around 45% of tweets are sent from the twitter.com web interface or via text messages and this number has been declining in the past months as the new 3rd party client software took on on weaknesses and faults of the official interface allowing users to use Twitter in a more custom and more efficient way. Now when the release of the Twitter Ad Platform is imminent, rumor has it that Twitter is out on a mission to get this rebel audience back to it’s own official apps to monetize on it.

For us regular Twitter users this could mean one thing: Twitter is killing the competition in the client apps market and when the competition is dead we will not get any new exciting features in Twitter clients as often as we do now.

On the other hand this whole thing could mean that Twitter is finally turning to it’s users and filling it’s own holes as Twitter’s Fred Wilson recently wrote. And soon we will see a whole range of new feature-rich Twitter applications for all major platforms both mobile and desktop.

One way or another, we’ll see the outcome very soon as the events have been developing quite fast since Wilson’s post. And I hope Twitter audience will benefit from this as in the end of the day, they – us, are why Twitter was invented in the first place.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter Takes Control Over Client Apps – Good or Bad?

Since that time there’s been no word from Twitter. I’ve seen a few accounts ‘verified’ since that time but they are largely fairly sizeable businesses or celebrities. Fair enough I guess – the amount of people applying to be verified must have been pretty large and to verify someone must be a pretty manual process – I put it down to Twitter biting off a bit more than they could chew….

Today I got an email from Twitter with a subject line of – ‘Account verification status update‘. Yay – an update!

I opened the email to see this:

OK – so I’m not verified and there are problems with my request. But what I find odd is that there is no way for me to address the issues. The email says that if I’m a business I can go to a ‘Business Center Page’ for more information – but I have no idea what such a page is or where to find it. I do run a business and my Twitter account is used in conjunction with that business – but I’ve never registered as a business and have never been told about any such ‘Business Center’.

Of course I Googled for more information – only to find others have had the same message in the last few hours.

Not sure what is going on but it leaves me feeling a little confused and disillusioned. In the scheme of things it doesn’t matter too much whether I’m verified or not – however to refer people to some mystical business center when no-one seems to be aware of what it is doesn’t really help anyone.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Twitter Rejects Verification Request with Cryptic Message

Twitter has made it’s way on to Google’s SERPs as “real time search”.

Even celebrities are using Twitter and tweeting away.

Recent Discovery
I just got this update when trying to login to my Gmail account:

Without looking at it more, these were my first questions:

5 Initial Questions About Google Buzz

1. Is this Google’s attempt to take over Twitter?
2. How messy will this make my email account?
3. I’m sure I can opt out of this, right?
4. At what point do I need to worry about my identity with Google?
5. What FREE tool will Google “acquire” next?

What do you know about Google Buzz? Is it a Twitter replacement?

Are you excited about it, mad about it, or could care less?

Here’s a bit more information I found as I looked further:

Can you say Twitter Wanna-Be?

Welcome to Buzz
Buzz is a new way to share updates, photos, videos and more, and start conversations about the things you find interesting. You’re already set up to follow the people you email and chat with the most.

Did I Say “Trying to Be Twitter?”

Your Google Reader shared items, Picasa Web public albums, and Google Chat status messages will automatically appear as posts in Buzz. To edit your connected sites or change privacy settings, view connected sites.

When I clicked on “view connected sites” I got this (and look, they included Twitter):

Maybe I’m just protective of Twitter.

Maybe I’m asking for trouble by even questioning Google’s authority in the online world.

Maybe Google Buzz will prove to be an answer to everything I’ve been looking for.

Maybe not.

Interested to hear what you have to say…

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.



Does Google Buzz Plan to Overtake Twitter?