Earlier today, Twitter announced plans to charge for its API beginning February 9th. The Twitter API is used by hundreds of web and mobile app developers that provide 3rdParty functionality for the platform. After saying major policy changes will be put to a vote and reneging on his own tweet, this policy change escaped to the Twitterverse at 1am.
Starting February 9, we will no longer support free access to the Twitter API, both v2 and v1.1. A paid basic tier will be available instead 🧵
— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) February 2, 2023
Popular apps like HootSuite and others will have to pay for access on-behalf of their user communities. These apps automate, collate, and schedule tweets for their users since Twitter doesn’t have similar functionality.
An argument can be made that many 3rdParty developers charge users for this extended functionality and Twitter is only doing so in-kind. I can only wonder how smaller app developers and one-man shops who’ve built great functionality for the Twitter community will fare once the service tiers are announced.
Premium pricing for API access begins at $149 per month for 500 API requests. Pricing goes up to $2,500 per month for 10k.
Maybe this is just a way to stick it to the Facebooks and Instagrams that are making some money, but piggybacking of automated integrations?
What’s the Big Picture?
We’re beginning to see the monetization and commodification of data. After spending billions of investor dollars and decades of time, freemium priced social services are being forced to grow up. The user-as-the-product scheme is beginning its downward cycle as investors public and private are demanding returns. It’s just not enough to be publicly traded.
But, who knows if this will last long. Elon Musk’s Twitter payments have to be hurting him, and their definitely hurting Tesla shareholders. He may just be throwing anything at the wall to make some money and keep his yacht. This may fall out of favor like the Fake Blue Check plan, and developers will simply walk away.
Facebook, YouTube, and other large social networks haven’t announced plans to monetize their APIs, yet. If Twitter starts making real money from access expect a shift.
I mean hey, he’s a genius, right?
Either way, I think we’re nearing the end of free communications as we know it, and will have to pay for the platforms we’ve relied on for many years.