16 replies to this topic

[Nazmus Shakib Khandaker]

Let me just start by saying that I am very disappointed in Twitter. Well, we know that with Twitter’s updated version of the API, new developers are limited by Twitter’s new and strict API rules. As I understand it, the new API only allows up to 100 thousand user tokens, after which a program trying to access additional user tokens must consult twitter for permission. This means for third party twitter clients, it can only have up to 100 thousand registered users without needing Twitter’s approval. The latest victim of this new enforcement appears to be the very popular Windows 8 app, Tweetro.

Richard Hay, a Microsoft MVP, reports that Tweetro has sent out emails to subscribers notifying that they can no longer accept additional users. You can read the full content of the letter on his post.
Tweetro developers contacted twitter, but, so far, they have not received a response. They are considering pulling the app from the Windows Store and resubmitting it as a “premium”, and likely expensive, app. This will limit the number of users. They explain that while they “would have been more than happy to continue distributing Tweetro for free as the exposure [they’ve] been receiving from it has been fantastic however being limited by twitter to a maximum of 100,000 users would mean [they’d] have to justify development via financial means.”

Anyway, as you can see from the screenshot of the user reviews of the Tweetro app on the Windows Store, users are rating it one star because they can’t connect to twitter. Granted, they don’t know that it’s not Tweetro’s fault, but Twitter’s, but they shouldn’t have to. The ultimate goal for consumer technology is following the motto “it just works”. It’s not the user’s job to decide who is at fault. If it doesn’t work, the users are not happy. I feel deeply sorry for the Tweetro developers, as they have done an amazing job in creating this app, only to be crippled by Twitter. I also feel bad for users because in the end, the users loose.

Anyway, here are some pictures of Tweetro for those who hadn’t been lucky enough to be the first 100 thousand users.

[Eddie7]

Thank God I got the alternative to Tweetro, MetroTwit.

[Nazmus Shakib Khandaker]

Thank God I got the alternative to Tweetro, MetroTwit.

Metro twit is a ticking time bomb. it's a matter of time before it goes too.

[Eddie7]

Metro twit is a ticking time bomb. it's a matter of time before it goes too.

We're just going to have to see about that.

[Nazmus Shakib Khandaker]

We're just going to have to see about that.

How do you suppose MetroTwit will bypass Twitter's API restrictions? Does MetroTwit and Twitter have a deal that I don't know about?

[Eddie7]

How do you suppose MetroTwit will bypass Twitter's API restrictions? Does MetroTwit and Twitter have a deal that I don't know about?

Damn bro, calm down, go take a couple chill pills.

/thread.

[virtorio]

Damn bro, calm down, go take a couple chill pills.

/thread.

Nothing he said requires calming down or the taking of any "chill pills".

[Auroka]

We're just going to have to see about that.

If Tweetro becomes a "premium app" many users will switch to MetroTwit and then they will end up hitting the token limit.

[MajinDark]

Tweetro works fine for me. Am I missing something?

[Denis W]

Pretty annoyed about this as well. No app - minus the official app - is immune to this silly 100K user limit until Twitter smartens up. The premium app is simply there to artifically cap the user limit, and it too will be in trouble over time.

Really if Twitter would get their heads out of their arses and have some condition in their API like make third party apps relay sponsored tweets or else they face the 100K limit, then we wouldn't be here, with Tweetbot charging $20 for their Mac OS X app for instance.

Tweetro works fine for me. Am I missing something?

Yeah, don't ever log out or uninstall the app. If you do then you'll see the problem.

[shockz]

Having this same problem with iOS apps that use Google Maps, one being Maps +

Google only allows 100,000 queries just like twitter making the app useless.

[omgben]

If Tweetro becomes a "premium app" many users will switch to MetroTwit and then they will end up hitting the token limit.

MetroTwit will end up hitting the token limit regardless of Tweetro being paid or not. Since they're already at the limit, and people are having problems connecting, they'll move onto the next app until that next app hits its limit and so on.

[Konstantine]

Nothing he said requires calming down or the taking of any "chill pills".

I second that. Wtf is wrong with his/her responses? xD

[Lirodon]

Why doesn't either one of them just sell-out to Twitter so they can be the official Windows 8 app? It happened to Tweetie, remember?

[+unabatedshagie]

Why doesn't either one of them just sell-out to Twitter so they can be the official Windows 8 app? It happened to Tweetie, remember?

That isn't really up to them to sell to twitter, twitter would need to want to buy them which they don't as AFAIk they already have an official client in the works.

Also weren't both of these apps out before the 100k limit?? If they were then aren't they allowed to double whatever their numbers were at the time the limit came into play if they already had more than 100k users?