Twitter has just confirmed that it no longer allows third-party developers to create Twitter clients. Exit TweetDeck, finished Echofon. The information was quietly communicated in an update to the API usage document.
A new clause under the Restrictions heading states that developers may not “create a service or product that substitutes for or is similar to Twitter applications.”
This formulation therefore effectively prohibits all third-party applications such as Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Aviary, Echofon, Birdie and others. And that means third-party apps for Twitter won’t be coming back for the time being.
Twitter will be able to serve ads to all users of its platforms
Why, then ? By removing third-party Twitter apps, Twitter will be able to serve ads to all users of its platforms.
Twitter users who used these apps will now have to use the official Twitter app on iOS or Android or the web versions.
Last week, Twitter stopped providing API access to major Twitter clients, causing them to stop working. But as of last week no explanation as to why the APIs were unavailable had been provided.
10 years of success, and third-party apps are going away
Twitter remained silent until last Tuesday, when it was rather cryptically declared to be “applying long-standing API rules.”
Third-party apps that allow access to Twitter have been around for over a decade and were a very popular choice for those who didn’t like the default Twitter interface. And their success came from their ability to offer more interesting and practical interfaces and features – especially for professionals – than the Twitter interface.