A new report, Twitter grows up and gets serious, by the independent technology analyst states that Twitter's relationship with the developer community is becoming increasingly strained as the social networking site rolls out its own mobile applications and Ovum believes Twitter should urgently provide developers with a clear roadmap of where its own in-house development efforts are heading in order to re-establish harmony.
Eden Zoller, principal analyst at Ovum and report author, said: "As Twitter matures, it is inevitable that the company will want to produce or acquire more in-house applications, and there is always a certain inherent tension between developers and platform owners.
"However, Twitter needs to be very careful not to alienate the developer community as they drive innovation for the service and also traffic. It should be remembered that applications account for 75% of all tweets.
"Developers do not want to go to the trouble and cost of building an app if Twitter itself is going to make a big play for the same area. This is exactly what Twitter appears to be doing with its in-house applications for smartphones, and the Tweetie application** it acquired in April stands out as a case in point."
Last month Twitter announced there were 100 000 applications for the site - double the number available just five months earlier in December 2009. At Chirp, its inaugural developer conference, the company told developers that it wants to focus on services that enhance the platform's "core experience."
"On the face of it, this is not great news for developers as enhancing the core Twitter experiences is exactly what most third-party applications do", said Zoller.
"For example, a core experience that Twitter is considering taking a direct hand in is rich media such as video and photos. It also plans to launch a URL link shortener.
"The implication is that developers should look to innovate more in verticals and other areas that they have not traditionally tapped into. This might appear harsh but there is logic behind the argument. The first Twitter applications are well established, and as the Twitter platform matures developers will need to be more creative."
*Ovum: The research company, part of the UK-based Datamonitor group, provides its clients with independent and objective analysis designed to enable them to make better business and technology decisions. Ovum's research draws upon over 400 000 interviews a year with business and technology, telecoms and sourcing decision-makers.
**Tweetie: In April 2010 Twitter launched an in-house application for BlackBerry smartphones, which since launch has accounted for around 7-8% of new sign-ups. Twitter also acquired AteBits in April, the company behind the popular Tweetie iPhone application, and is now working on its own Twitter application for Android devices. Twitter is re-branding Tweetie as Twitter for iPhone, clearly positioning it as the 'official' Twitter iPhone app. It is also going to give the application away for free, in contrast with the US$2.99 (about R22.50) price tag it carried prior to the acquisition. This threatens to undercut developers who might want to charge for similar iPhone apps.
Source: Ovum (part of the Datamonitor group)
