> “I hereby name Twitter’s 100K “user limit” on clients: the Dickcap.
> \#dickcap”
\- [John Gruber](http://daringfireball.net)
I think this might catch on.
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Tag: twitter
Stop what you’re doing and go read his last paragraph. Trust me. It’s hilarious.
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Tail that Wags the Dog
> The same people who pioneered the adoption of your platform would also be the people leading an exodus. That exodus may have just begun.
Well said. I agree completely.
The [announcement of Twitter API changes](https://dev.twitter.com/blog/changes-coming-to-twitter-api) has led to another round of great analysis, including: [Dermot Daly writing on the Tapadoo company blog](http://tapadoo.com/2012/twitters-changes-thinking-ahead/?utm_source=loopinsight.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+loopinsight%2FKqJb+%28The+Loop%29) telling people to at least wait until the dust settles around the Twitter ecosystem, [Paul Haddad writing on the Tapbots Blog](http://tapbots.com/blog/news/dont-panic) telling us that the sky isn’t falling, and that Tweetbot should be around for a long time, [Lex Friedman at Macworld](http://www.macworld.com/article/1168189/twitters_developer_crackdown_offers_app_net_a_chance_to_rethink_microblogging.html#lsrc.rss_main) talking about the opportunities [App.net](http://app.net) has to take advantage of the changes, and [Brett Terpsta on his site](http://brettterpstra.com/on-app-net/) saying that [App.net](http://app.net) could be the replacement that people who use Twitter differently from the general public could move to.
I have a hard time remembering a topic that has resulted in so many quality, well-thought-out opinions.
*UPDATE: [Shawn Blanc posted](http://shawnblanc.net/2012/08/twitter-2/) his thoughts just as I was hitting send.*
Yesterday [Twitter announced upcoming changes to their API](https://dev.twitter.com/blog/changes-coming-to-twitter-api) and there has already been a ton of brilliant writing about the changes. For a breakdown on the changes, I recommend either [Marco Arment’s posting](http://www.marco.org/2012/08/16/twitter-api-changes) or [Dieter Bohn’s writeup on The Verge](http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/16/3248079/twitter-limits-app-developers-control). There is also commentary from [Ben Brooks](http://brooksreview.net/2012/08/twitter-bullshit/), [Matthew Panzarino](http://thenextweb.com/twitter/2012/08/17/twitter-4/), [Dan Frommer](http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/why-twitter-just-pushed-developers-aside-to-secure-its-future.php), and [MG Siegler](http://parislemon.com/post/29582867630). Over at Daring Fireball, John Gruber has two posts, [one in response to Anil Dash](http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/08/16/dash)[^dash] and one that summarizes his interpretation of the changes, entitled [Twitter to Client Developers: Drop Dead](http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/08/16/twitter-drop-dead):
> So Klout, which is utter vainglorious masturbatory nonsense, that’s OK. But services like Storify and Favstar, which are actually useful and/or fun, those are no good. And don’t even get me started on Twitter turning against client apps.
The whole thing makes the development of [App.net](http://app.net) look even more important than it did just 24 hours ago.
[^dash]: [Anil Dash’s original article.](http://dashes.com/anil/2012/08/what-twitters-api-announcement-could-have-said.html)
85% of my followers are “good” and only 3% are “fake.” That is kind of a pleasant surprise, since I expected a much higher percentage of my followers would be fake.
Things look they might get really different, really soon. I do not know how useful Twitter will be to me if they block Flipboard.
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Tweetbot for Mac Updated
Really nice update. Little tip about the new “docking” columns from [The Next Web](http://thenextweb.com/apple/2012/08/03/bye-bye-tweetdeck-tweetbot-for-macs-new-alpha-has-multiple-docking-timelines-a-menu-bar-icon-and-more/?awesm=tnw.to_e2xH):
> If you’d like to create a large Tweetdeck-like interface that lets you move them all around at once, you’re in luck, because you can now dock the windows together. To do so, hover a window next to the right edge of the one previous and let go, they’ll snap right together. To pull a window off, move your cursor to the bottom of the rightmost timeline and grab the undocking handle, dragging it off and to the right.
The advancements in Tweetbot mean I am going to be really sad when Twitter cuts off third party clients.
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Marco Arment on the Future of Twitter
Marco Arement adds to the growing concern[^ff] about what will happen to Twitter:
> A big question is whether Twitter will even give third-party apps the chance to display their “consistent experience” before cutting them off. I’m guessing they won’t.
> …
> Or, to use [Twitter’s language](https://dev.twitter.com/blog/delivering-consistent-twitter-experience), they’re about to break a lot of “the features that make Twitter Twitter.”
It’s going to be a sad, sad day when they cut off third party clients.
[^ff]: *See also,* [Mike Isaac](http://allthingsd.com/20120801/the-future-of-twitters-platform-is-all-in-the-cards/) and [MG Siegler](http://massivegreatness.com/theres-a-storm-coming-mr-wayne)
Dan Wetzel explains what happens to one reporter who criticized NBC’s Olympics coverage:
>Guy Adams works as a writer for The Independent, a national newspaper in Great Britain. He lives in Los Angeles. Throughout the Olympics, he’s taken to Twitter and ripped NBC repeatedly for its coverage of the Games in America.
> Namely, he’s criticized the network’s reliance on using tape delays, a frustration shared by millions of viewers.
> Only in a marriage of old media and social media, Guy Adams no longer has a Twitter account. It was suspended Tuesday …
Wow.
I hope this is just the lingering feud between Twitter and Facebook and not a precursor to Twitter blocking all third party clients.
Yesterday, [a post on Noteandpoint.com explored the history of the Twitter @reply](http://noteandpoint.com/2011/09/why-the-user-experience-of-enterprise-software-isn’t-all-that-awesome/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NoteAndPoint+%28Note+%26+Point%29). A followup [post today on ManicalrageCheck.com](http://log.maniacalrage.net/post/ 26935842947/the-real-history-of-the-reply-on-twitter) provides a little more clarity but still cannot nail down all of the details. Ultimately, this type of research would be much easier if Twitter allowed its user to access their entire tweet history.
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Tweetbot for Mac – It’s Alive!
Tapbots just released the public alpha. Since it’s an alpha build, I assume there will be some rough edges, but I’m giving a shot as my primary Twitter client.
Yesterday, [Oliver Reichenstein](http://informationarchitects.net/blog/sweep-the-sleaze/) started a rush of blog activity with his piece about the various “social sharing” buttons that can be found on websites and blogs:
> The previous wave of buttons for Delicious and Digg and Co. vanished, Facebook and Twitter and G+ might vanish or they might survive, but the buttons will vanish for sure. Or do you seriously think that in ten years we will still have those buttons on every page? No, right? Why, because you already know as a user that they’re not that great. So why not get rid of them now? Because “they’re not doing any harm”? Are you sure?
There was a rush of activity as [Daring Fireball](http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/05/30/sweep-the-sleaze), [The Loop](http://feeds.loopinsight.com/~r/loopinsight/KqJb/~3/i0LtEIKPKaQ/), and [Shawn Blanc](http://shawnblanc.net/2012/05/reichenstein-social-buttons/) (among others) all echoed Mr. Reichenstein’s suggestion to remove those social sharing buttons. I have decided to join in and remove such buttons from my site. I think [Marco Arment’s reasoning](http://www.marco.org/2012/05/30/sweep-the-sleaze) was the most convincing though:
>I don’t embed any sharing buttons for one big reason: they look cheap and desperate. They would devalue my voice and reduce my credibility.
Agreed.