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blog post: some complaints about the Twitter API

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Adrian Sampson 2012-10-06 21:20:28 -07:00
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---
title: the end of Twitter syndication is nigh
layout: main
section: blog
---
Since before beets had a [real blog][blog] of its own, I've been using the [@b33ts][beets-twitter] Twitter account as a simple, zero-effort way to make announcements about the project and keep users up to date. Most of the news that comes out of a small open-source project like beets doesn't warrant a full blog post, so 140-character summaries are usually enough. And the shorter format encourages me to post more often.
I've also always syndicated the Twitter feed to [beets' homepage][beets-home] (you can see it on the right hand side there). I like having the latest news from Twitter up there to show visitors that beets, unlike so many other open-source projects, is under active development. And returning users get to see what's new at a glance without my needing to cross-post to the blog.
With [Twitter's new API restrictions][api11], this kind of syndication is no longer possible. Twitter is exerting more control over how tweets are displayed and this news feed violates the new display requirements. I'm not shocked by this development. In fact, it always surprised me that this use case was allowed in the first place---I'm making demands on Twitter's servers and giving them nothing in return. So, while it will be a hassle to switch to a different solution, I understand that it needs to be done.
But what should would-be syndicators do instead? This is an honest question---I don't know of a good solution that obeys Twitter's new rules. I like being able to post with the many [awesome Twitter clients][tweetbot] out there and I'm sure users want to see updates in their streams, so I will keep using the @b33ts account. But the news feed on the homepage is also too useful to give up. Here are the alternatives I know of:
- Use Twitter's new [official widgets][widgets]. These widgets are large, clunky, and image-laden---I'm not sure where Twitter intends these to be used ([MargaretAtwood.ca][ma], I guess?), but it's certainly not in a sidebar element. (The old twitter widgets, which featured a less visually intrusive design, [are deprecated][widget-docs].)
- Cross-post. Twitter's new rules restrict how you get data *out* of Twitter---not how you *add* data to Twitter. This means that I could "microblog" (is that still a word?) somewhere else---on [GitHub Pages][], say---and run a cron job to post *those* updates to Twitter. Syndicate in, not out.
- [Tent][] or [App.net][], I guess?
None of these are as simple as my current setup with Twitter. Do you have a better idea for maintaining this use case? Please [send me email][email] or---if you're not too bitter about it yet---tweet at [@b33ts][beets-twitter].
[email]: mailto:adrian@radbox.org
[GitHub Pages]: http://pages.github.com
[widget-docs]: https://dev.twitter.com/docs/embedded-timelines
[ma]: http://www.margaretatwood.ca
[widgets]: https://twitter.com/settings/widgets
[tweetbot]: http://tapbots.com/tweetbot/
[api11]: https://dev.twitter.com/blog/changes-coming-to-twitter-api
[beets-home]: http://beets.radbox.org
[beets-twitter]: https://twitter.com/b33ts
[blog]: http://beets.radbox.org/blog/
[tent]: http://tent.io/
[app.net]: http://app.net/