Thread Reader app & others will have to pay a lot to Twitter soon & may disappear

[highplainsdem]

Musk is desperately trying to wring more money out of Twitter after driving many advertisers and users away.

This also means that migration tools for people setting up accounts elsewhere - at Mastodon, for instance - will probably stop working within days.


From The Verge this morning:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/2/23582615/twitter-removing-free-api-developer-apps-price-announcement

Twitter will no longer provide free access to the Twitter API from February 9th. As announced by the official Twitter Developer account late Wednesday night, Elon Musk’s social media hobby will stop supporting free access to the Twitter API and will instead provide a “paid basic tier.” Twitter hasn’t provided any information regarding pricing, but said that it will provide “more details on what you can expect next week.”

“Over the years, hundreds of millions of people have sent over a trillion Tweets, with billions more every week,” said the Twitter Developer account. “Twitter data are among the world’s most powerful data sets. We’re committed to enabling fast & comprehensive access so you can continue to build with us.”

Twitter’s API — abbreviated from Application Programming Interface — allows third parties to retrieve and analyze public Twitter data, which can then be used to create programmable bots and separate applications that connect to the platform, such as Pikaso, Thread Reader, and RemindMe_OfThis. Twitter currently provides limited free access to its API alongside premium, scalable tiers for developers that need to lift restrictions on accessing endpoints and unlock additional enterprise features. Twitter does not publicly disclose the price of its premium API tiers, though it was reported in February last year that fees start from $99 a month and increase depending on the level of access required.

-snip-

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has made efforts to increase revenue and boost Twitter monetization since purchasing the platform for $44 billion last year in order to pay off loans and clear a mountain of debt. These include laying off almost two-thirds of Twitter’s staff, locking user verification behind an $8 monthly subscription to Twitter Blue, and even selling off company assets following the closure of Twitter offices, allegedly after also failing to pay rents.

The information on the new fees is being tweeted now:

Link to tweet

Tweet about how this will end the use of migration tools soon:

Link to tweet

[dweller]

1. Well

Bye …



✌🏻

[marmar]

2. Twitter

[NullTuples]

6. Can't see that w/o hearing in my head, "My god, the humanity"

Somehow I just don't feel that way about Twitter any longer.

[highplainsdem]

3. Tom Nichols has a great comment on this:

Link to tweet

[Cha]

4. TY.. I don't really understand

what that all means but it seems like it wouldn't be good for ol muskie.

[NullTuples]

5. Update, because Elon...

Now - because he's such a stable genius - he's saying he'll provide a write-only API for verified (paid) bots, but only if they provide "good" free content for his platform.

What an incentive for developers, eh?

https://techcrunch.com/2023/02/04/elon-musk-says-twitter-will-provide-a-free-write-only-api-to-bots-providing-good-content/?guccounter=1

[highplainsdem]

7. Thanks! I'd just found a post about that skimming Mastodon and was reading

the TechCrunch article and writing my post about it

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217618145

before I saw your reply here, but I appreciate your reply since I nearly logged out for the afternoon before checking Mastodon.

[NullTuples]

8. I *love* your opening line description of Elon's management / life skill !!!

[ZonkerHarris]

9. end result: less content engagement, declining users, lower ad rates,