Fact: This year Twitter stock (TWTR) took a dive from nearly $70 a share down to just over $30 a share due in part to Q1 reports that the overall monthly users were slowing. According to Business Insider, Twitter has now begun shutting off data to companies that publish their own content on the size of the overall Twitter user-base.
One developer told BI that “They shut me down last Friday night after the market closed,” and another, Twopcharts, has the above image boldly on their homepage.
There are a few theories on why this API access is being cut down for these developers. The first is that the overall engagement and user base is in-fact shrinking and driving down investor confidence. The other (more pragmatic) theory is that Twitter is doing a fantastic business selling this data and wants to keep driving revenues.
Business Insider estimates they’ll pull in more than $100 million in big data resale. If Twitter is making so much revenue from this data, it would make sense to expand their offerings and not compete against other companies who profit from their data.
Either way, if you are a marketer that is relying on external Twitter data tools, don’t be surprised if your provider begins having problems. On the other hand, the new Twitter Analytics should give you a better look at your own account data.
For more information, see Business Insider.
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