It's going to allow them to build on the platform itself, then promote their tools and services directly to users on the platform at key moments.
The company today is launching an experiment that may be one of the more significant efforts in recent years, beyond the launch of the rebuiltTwitterAPI, aimed at demonstrating its intent to collaborate with developers and be more responsive to their needs. With the new test, it will promote select developers on its platform at the moment they may be useful to the end user.
The experiment will start off small by highlighting apps from the recently launched twttr Toolbox collection of ready-made services, specifically in the area of developer-built safety tools.
When users block someone using the built-in tools in the web app, they will see a non-intrusive prompt that suggests third-party services that are capable of providing more advanced levels of safety and protection.
In February, it was introduced by Twitter.
The Toolbox is an online hub featuring ready-to-use, self-serve apps and services built by the developer community and aimed at the public. The tools included in the Toolbox today include scheduling apps, Thread Reader, Followerwonk, and Tweepsmap.
Put the NEW Twitter Toolbox to work for you. These ready-to-use tools are low-cost and built by our developer community to help you get even more out of Twitter.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) February 1, 2022
The idea to feature the Toolbox apps on its platform came from its discussions with the developer community. The company was told by the developers that they wanted to improve the experience of users on the social networking site, and that they wanted distribution so people were aware of their product.
This is the first step in us working with developers to enable those needs, according to the head of Product for its developer platform, who came to the company via its Reshuffle acquisition.
Developers want users and we want to provide them with the right users at the right time, giving value to users who are at the moment needing those developer innovations, and giving distribution to those developers.
The image was posted on the social media site.
By only showing the prompt when the user intent is the strongest, when the user is already blocking or muting an account, in this case, we expect users will show an increased willingness to interact with the developers. Block Party, which currently gains users via word-of-mouth recommendations, could potentially be impacted by the ability to acquire users on the micro-blogging site.
Block Party founder and CEO Tracy Chou says they are very excited about the chance to get in front of users who will benefit from what they are doing.
Charles Cohen, the founder and CEO of Bodyguard, is expecting his business to grow a lot because of the new test.
We estimate 25% of users installing Bodyguard come from the website, and we expect that figure to rise to 50% within the next few days.
Although it has been operating in a more open capacity with its developer community for several years, it still has a lot of history to overcome. It will be a lot of work to repair its reputation.
In the earlier years, the attitude toward developers was disorganized and constantly changing. In 2010, it hosted its first developer conference and set the expectation that it would engage directly with those building with its tools for years to come. The event was canceled the next year.
In 2012 and a few years later, it shafted its own partners who had agreements to resell its firehose data after it pulled the rug from under developers who had been building third-party clients.
Some have suggested that the reasons behind the changes were not always explained. The decision to limit third-party clients was due to a competitive threat from the company, according to a recent thread by Evan Henshaw-Plath.
They shut down the ecosystems to save the company because they thought the open one was going to be captured. They should partner with app developers to be honest about the attack on the company.
Twitter is important, but it's always been vulnerable as a company. When Twitter does something which upsets the community of users, it is often due to this vulnerability. Let me tell you a little known story about an earlier time a billionaire tried a hostile takeover of twitter
— rabble (@rabble) April 15, 2022
Today, it's possible that Twitter is trying to do that.
We need to earn trust. I think we need to be transparent. Shevat thinks we need to build in the open.
He explains that today, they want to work with developers to build tools that are successful.
The company focused on including features that were missing from earlier versions, like conversation threading, poll results and more. It added more free access and removed some of its policy constraints, such as those impacting third-party apps.
The company said that by November 2021, most of the existing apps built on the platform could be fully supported.
Cohen says that the feedback from developers is going in the right direction, and that the second iteration of the platform has shown a real listening to the needs and feedback of developers.
There has been a change in the way that the people at Twitter see the value of having a developer community.
Twitter introduces a new, fully rebuilt developer API, launching next week
Collaboration and communication are only part of serving the developer community. Critical factors include helping apps get discovered and generating revenue.
Shevat says that they want to create better ways to discover developers on the platform.
He notes that this strategy is good for end users who benefit from access to third-party tools and services.
This is the underpinning assumption behind the things that we are launching.
The strategy is being driven by the fact that, even with its increased pace of product development, it can build everything that its users need.
The BlueSky project will drive more demand for developer-led innovations. There is a growing demand for user-set levels of content moderation. Musk wants a different set of rules for moderation.
We just found out how Elon Musk may finance his $43B Twitter bid
Block Party, which filters out unwanted mentions and blocks troll activity, could help with some of these issues.
One way to think about Block Party is that it is a different way of doing things.
Whenever someone tags you, you see a mention. Even if users aren't thinking of it as like I'm choosing my own algorithm, the new one is a different experience. She says that she can choose not to see it. There is a different way of controlling the experience of mentions.
There are other areas of the product where users might want to modify their experience more than just going with the platform default.
Twitter’s decentralized future
One such area is where creators are involved. Shevat points out that the Super Follow creator subscriptions product allows users to subscribe to favorite accounts through in-app purchases and receive exclusive content. The Super Follows app could be made by a developer that serves different types of content to different groups of people. It could focus on the paid content from the user's Super Follow subscription.
When the user engages with a Super Follow creator or subscribes for the first time, such an app could be promoted. He suggests that developers could promote their apps on the social networking site. If someone posts a link to a song, you could use your favorite streaming app to play it.
It's easy to see how the other Twitter Toolbox apps are promoted on the platform, like when users look for a way to check their analytics.
I think of the old phone when I think of the new one. If you remember, the only app on it was Snake. I see the future of the social network as an Apple product, where the value that you get is actually through developer innovation.
There is now a dedicated team focused on solving the app discovery problem, with solutions like Toolbox and this latest Twitter test. Further down the road, the apps and services could be more deeply integrated with the platform, as in December of last year, it was added support for OAuth 2.0, which he describes as a first step into a much tighter and seamless integration in the future.
Other models could be considered, like an app store.
I can definitely see that as one of the possibilities for our future, says Shevat, when asked about this option.
I need to make sure that users find value in the product, so I might just surface it in the product. Maybe I can create a section for developer innovation in the product.
He says that they are going to solve the problem of discovery.
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