Twitter Decides To Kill Its Ecosystem: How Not To Run A Modern Company

from the big-mistake dept

Mon, Mar 14th 2011 2:41am — Mike Masnick

This is really unfortunate news. It really wasn't that long ago that we were praising Twitter for how it dealt with the issue of third parties building on its ecosystem. The company took a very permissive approach, letting other providers do all sorts of things that really helped to make Twitter much more valuable in the long run, including create a whole variety of client apps that really pushed Twitter. I know that my own recognition of why Twitter was valuable didn't really come about until I started using some third party apps, that let me do much, much more and get much more value out of Twitter. However, on Friday, Twitter appeared to want to cut off all that goodwill and value adding by telling third parties (effectively) to stop making Twitter apps. It appears the company will allow a few legacy apps to be grandfathered in, but new apps-makers are forewarned to stay away. This comes a little while after Twitter shut down some third party apps it claimed were "misbehaving."

The reasoning behind this new prohibition are, frankly, ridiculous and totally unbelievable. Specifically, it claims that "people are confused" by these third party apps. Of course, in my case, and in the case of almost everyone I know who uses a third party app (and I don't know anyone who actually uses Twitter's official app), we weren't confused, we were enlightened by those third party apps providing much more context and value to Twitter. The new rules basically remove a large amount of the flexibility that the existing third party providers can use to add more value to Twitter. This is Twitter both trying to control the developer market and to take it back over itself. This is a dangerous move that could seriously hurt the developer ecosystem around Twitter, and push people to alternatives. Even if developers think they can live within the rules, these recent changes might get them to think twice about building on Twitter since it could change the rules further. As per usual, Mathew Ingram summarizes nicely why this is a bad business move, even if it's designed to benefit Twitter's business:

Without the help of third-party apps like Tweetie and Tweetdeck, the company likely would not have been nearly as successful at building the network (and a ready-made client like Tweetie certainly wouldn�t have been sitting there waiting to be acquired). But the ecosystem didn�t just build demand for the network -- it also helped build and distribute the behavior that now makes Twitter so valuable: the @ mentions, the direct messages, re-Tweets and so on, none of which were Twitter�s idea originally. That created a huge amount of goodwill, and led to the (apparently mistaken) idea of an ecosystem.

It�s all very well for Twitter to claim ownership of all those things now, since it is their platform. And obviously there are businesses that can get away with being arbitrary or dictatorial -- Apple is well known for such behavior, after all, and it is one of the most valuable companies on the planet. But this only works over the longer term if your product is so unique and compelling that people will put up with it. Is Twitter in that category?

The company may get away with this in the short-term, but this is a hugely risky long term move that seems to have a high likelihood of backfiring. Going against those who helped get you where you are is a very dangerous move. For a company that used to seem so welcoming, it's a pretty rapid about face.

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Filed Under: developers, ecosystem, ownership
Companies: twitter

34 Comments

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Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 2:45am

Following the Apple business model
It really doesn't work for anyone else. Twitter may be popular but someone will fill the void if they choose to take the close-minded route. And it's not as if they've got an ultra-lucrative pile of proprietary hardware to fall back on.
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Miff (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 2:49am

This is just the final nail in the coffin.

Twitter stopped being developer friendly the second they discontinued the easy-to-use REST API for an incomplete untested version of oAuth.
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Geek Hillbilly, 14 Mar 2011 @ 2:51am

Yep,it will backfire and a lot sooner than the dumbass corporate mentality thinks..I'm gonna start looking for another site who doesn't have their heads up their ass.
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Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 3:06am

Danged kids!
Get orf my LAWN!
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MarksAngel (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 3:16am

I think it's time for everyone to move to identi.ca with status.net being open source there is no fear of issues such as these.
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Hiiragi Kagami (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 3:34am

Wait...
... so why is that "Tweet" button still showing up on Techdirt?

This is no different than a third party app.

Remove the button, please.

Then, tell all websites to remove the button.

Once Twitter sees its usage drop like a stone, then perhaps this will be the only way they'll learn their lesson.
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Blatant Coward (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 3:44am

When twitter loses the 'old twitter' function, and disallows option that are simple, do not force trending, ooo ooo you should follow ads, and 'sponsored twits' I will definitely have no use for twitter.
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Marcel de Jong (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 4:21am

StatusNet / Identi.ca
I have recently signed up for a StatusNet account, in the anticipation of the exodus of Twitter. :) Now if only Tweetdeck for Android would support it.
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MarksAngel (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 4:22am

Re: StatusNet / Identi.ca
With this stuff going down on twitter I'm sure it's only a matter of time.
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Jay (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 5:44am

...
So... I take the time to actually start a Twitter right as they decide to shoot themselves in the foot? Great...
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Yeebok (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 5:45am

Re: StatusNet / Identi.ca
When I get my desire HD I might just start on one..
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Adam, 14 Mar 2011 @ 5:52am

10-to-1 they're getting close to being bought out, and this was one of the terms of sale.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Mar 2011 @ 5:57am

Re: StatusNet / Identi.ca
Both suck and for people seeking attention. I'm surprised twitter lasted this long, and it is probably due to their huge PR campaign.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Mar 2011 @ 6:02am

There are VERY few people on this planet...
...who are capable of expressing themselves cogently and intelligently in the limited forum provided by twitter. Happily, it seems that all of them write at far more length elsewhere, where they take the time to develop their thoughts in more depth.

Twitter...is disposable.
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Killercool (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 6:03am

Re: Re: StatusNet / Identi.ca
Actually, I have a whole bunch of friends and associates who enjoy Twitter for reasons I refuse to comprehend, NOT because of any ads. Personally, I avoid as much social networking as possible, since I have nightmares of my internet tubes being clogged with innumerable Snooki clones.
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STJ, 14 Mar 2011 @ 6:14am

I have never tweeted, I don't see a need to.
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JeroenW, 14 Mar 2011 @ 6:19am

Well, there's some truth to it
I mean, look at the android market, there's at least 2 dozen twitter apps in there alone and you have to look long and hard to see any differences and even longer to find the best app for whatever you want to get out of twitter.
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FuzzyDuck, 14 Mar 2011 @ 6:37am

Re:
Indeed. oAuth is a disaster that makes it nearly impossible to make small scripts that work with Twitter (unless you add the useless oAuth bloat). I run everything through http://identi.ca/ these days.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Mar 2011 @ 6:43am

Re: Well, there's some truth to it
And that means that Twitter should shut them all down and force us all to use the official app? A healthy variety is a good thing, and especially with Android, why many of us use it. Don't like the keyboard? Get (or make) a different one! Don't like the stock Twitter app? Get (or make) a different one!

I for one will quit using twitter if I'm stuck using the stock Twitter app. Many of the third-party apps are much better, and each has its own charm. Thanks to these apps, Twitter has become much more of the experience I want, instead of the experience they think I should have.
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Wiggs (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 6:50am

Sad News...
I'm actually quite sad to hear this. I've been a casual Twitter follower/user for quite some time, and managed to leverage it during an admission fiasco (my own fault, not theirs, but they helped me anyway!) at PAX East this past weekend.

I was really very impressed by the power that a public forum like Twitter can create. Hopefully the company will come around, but if we're all forced to exodus to a new place, the same power will only be preserved by everyone moving to the SAME new place.
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Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 6:53am

Re:
Thanks for telling me! I have been trying to follow you but could never find you. Now I can stop searching. I have always wanted to know what you thought about...anything!
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paul, 14 Mar 2011 @ 6:54am

I use the original twitter for android. I have tried- tweetdeck (multiple times) seesmic, trumpet, twidroyd, twatter, twanger,twetris,twumpoline and twoppopotomus. All to no avail. I keep coming back to the original. I see no problem with a company wanting us to use their original product.
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Ray Beckerman (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 7:39am

Twitter killing the golden goose
I agree wholeheartedly with your article. Twitter has been playing these games now, for over a year, as it struggles to "monetize", in the process killing the golden goose.

What I've been waiting for is an aggressive microblogging competitor to come along. I've been disappointed that statusnet or friendfeed hasn't stepped up more strongly.
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Vlad (small business blog), 14 Mar 2011 @ 8:16am

So when?
So when are we going to see ads in all Twitter clients and inability to unfollow ad-spitting bots, courtesy of Twitter itself?
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Shon Gale (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 8:22am

Another one bites the dust!
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Marcel de Jong (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 8:26am

Re: Twitter killing the golden goose
It would indeed be nice, if StatusNet and or Friendfeed came out with a press release saying that Microblogging tool developers are more than welcome to their API.
Perhaps help crystallize it, and make it hardened for the future.
Or something like that. Let Twitter (and the rest of the world) know that there is more than just Twitter in the micro-blogging arena.
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DearMrMiller (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 9:06am

Twitter?
Twitter is a foreign language to those that don't actually use the service that often.. filled with #'s and @'s and other strange symbols difficult to divine to the person not steeped in the protocol. Twitter is a lot of noise and very little signal. It's never experienced the breakaway success that Facebook had and for those reasons I think it will die a death eventually and this sounds distinctly of a hammer driving another nail. It's great for already existing pundits/celebrities/journalists/media types to amplify their already existing fan bases.. but I think that for the normal person it's a waste of time.

Check out the trends:

http://www.google.com/trends?q=twitter%2C+facebook&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&am p;sort=0

One thing this reveals to me is that the news reference volume, on par with Facebook, far outweighs the actual traffic. Of course it does, it's favoured by the media as another bullhorn and they're biased towards its purpose but the person on the street can't really be bothered. So we have artificially inflated cultural value that, to me, offers little besides an echo chamber of noise.
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greg.fenton (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 10:43am

Re: Re: Re: StatusNet / Identi.ca
If you are worried about *your* interwebs being filled with Snooki clones, then you are doing it wrong.

And this is the whole point. With the social network stuffs (at least, the stuff that survives), it is *you* that defines your interwebs.

Don't want to hear about someone who constantly tweets their starbucks orders? Drop them!

What the social interwebs offers is Real Intelligence Filtering. Follow the right people, and information that *you* want, that you don't know about or even know you want, flows to you. And if you aren't drinking from the hose when the news is flowing, if it is a fleeting blip of info whose Best Before date goes by before you get online, it is obsolescent material that does not clog up your inbox.

This is real-time, crowd-sourced RSS feed of the entire internet. Google is great at finding what you know you want. Social webospheres are great at bringing you things you don't know to look for.
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Joshua Clingenpeel, 14 Mar 2011 @ 11:25am

Re:
You have now RT @STJ I have never tweeted, I don't see a need to.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Mar 2011 @ 12:27pm

I've joined identi.ca as a result of this article. The only trouble is nobody else I know has. I'm not famous and quite pleased that 90 people find me interesting enough to follow. Building all that up again on another microblogging service seems arduous.
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greg.fenton (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 12:33pm

Re: Twitter?
If you are getting a lot of noise and little signal, then you are using it wrong.

Follow people who tweet good content. Don't follow the bad.
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RobShaver (profile), 14 Mar 2011 @ 1:02pm

Re: Ping.fm supports identi.ca
I use Ping.fm to post to Facebook, FriendFeed, Twitter and Identi.ca at the same time.
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Duh, 14 Mar 2011 @ 10:54pm

If the real issue is misbehaving apps, then why not set request limits on the server side of twitter to block apps that make too many requests?

I know the answer! Because that's common sense, and common sense don't make money. ;)

Either way, I don't really care. I found the few twitter apps I tried to be limited. Only so many tweets showed up in the history.

I eventually ended up using an RSS feed reader as my twitter client. It's not perfect, but much more powerful. Much more results and an unlimited tweet history.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Mar 2011 @ 6:06pm

Re: Re: Twitter?
I've generally found that the people I want to follow (people like Notch) don't have any means to categorize their tweets and I don't have any means to filter them, so I keep my Twitter use down to letting Identi.ca mirror my notices to Twitter for the convenience of others.
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