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WordPress drops Twitter social sharing due to API price hike
When users set up a brand new WordPress-powered website, they have long been greeted by a default, introductory post simply titled “Hello world!”
But, now it’s time for WordPress to say a farewell. Specifically, goodbye to Twitter.
WordPress has just become the latest major platform or organization to cut its Twitter integrations due to Elon Musk’s brand new high-priced API subscription plans.
Under Musk, Twitter has shut down its free API offerings to developers looking to build Twitter-based apps or integrations. In its place, the company announced exorbitantly-priced paid Enterprise subscription tiers, which start at $42,000 per month, earlier this year.
According to a statement released by WordPress, the platform is removing Twitter from JetPack, an official plugin run by WordPress and its parent company, Automattic. Among its many security and marketing offerings, JetPack Social provides users with the ability to automatically share content directly to an array of social media platforms from their WordPress sites.
WordPress is clear in its statement, titled “The End of Twitter Auto-Sharing,” that Twitter’s removal from JetPack is due to the API price hike.
“Twitter decided, on short notice, to dramatically change the terms and pricing of the Twitter API,” said Automattic in a statement. “We have attempted to work with Twitter in good faith to negotiate new terms, but we have not been able to reach an agreement. As a result, the Twitter connection on Jetpack Social will cease to work, and your blog posts will no longer be auto-shared to Twitter.”
The company is clear that this will only affect Twitter. Automattic states that WordPress users will still be able to utilize JetPack’s social features as they did before with platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Tumblr. In addition, the company stated that its planning on adding Instagram and decentralized Twitter competitor Mastodon to JetPack Social in the “near future.”
In removing Twitter, WordPress joins the ranks of other major companies to drop Twitter in recent weeks. Microsoft, recently removed Twitter from its Microsoft Ads service and Xbox gaming console and Intercom, a popular customer service platform, dropped the Musk-owned platform from its tools as well.
Losing WordPress is a massive blow to Twitter. Here’s why.
WordPress is the most popular content management system on the internet. Roughly 43 percent of the entire web is powered by WordPress. That’s hundreds of millions of websites, blogs, and ecommerce sites.
JetPack is a free security, performance, and marketing plugin provided by WordPress. There are also paid subscription plans for premium features. It’s unclear exactly how many WordPress websites are using JetPack. Mashable has reached out to Automattic for more information and will update this piece when we hear back.
However, JetPack is listed on the official WordPress plugin directory which shows that there are more than 5 million active JetPack installations on WordPress-based websites. According to the directory, there are less than a dozen plugins with that many active installations. It should also be noted that the “5+ million” active installation label on JetPack is the highest-numbered labeling WordPress provides in the directory, so the actual number of active installations could likely be much higher.
Twitter’s API moves have befuddled developers, both big and small. Many indie developers were forced to shut down their small Twitter-based apps over the past month as Twitter suspended developers from their API platform in preparation for the switch to the paid enterprise plans. Even popular Twitter clients like Tweetbot and Twitterific were cut from Twitter’s API without notice. Both are now shut down.
Public service accounts have not fared any better. Public transit accounts like the MTA, which runs the New York City subway system, and public safety services, like the National Weather Service, have been affected by Twitter’s API changes. Both have announced that they could no longer provide up-to-the-minute alerts on the platform.
Popular B2B business dumps Twitter over Musk’s API price hike
Over the past few weeks, countless indie developers have announced that they would have to shut down their Twitter-based apps due to the new exorbitant pricing that Twitter began rolling out for its API.
However, it’s not just small-time developers making the decision to pass on paying $42,000 per month to Twitter. Just this week, one of the biggest companies in the customer support and live chat space made the call to drop Twitter too.
On Thursday, Intercom announced that the company would “no longer support Twitter Integration due to the recent API pricing changes implemented by Twitter.” The decision was implemented immediately, as Intercom has already removed Twitter from its products.
This is a notable decision as Twitter has long been used as a major customer support channel for many businesses. Its usage as a customer-facing tool has been promoted by Twitter in the past. Since the social media platform’s early days, it’s become quite useful for Twitter’s users to be able to reach out to a company for help or to file a complaint.
And yet, Intercom, one of the leaders in the customer service space, has decided that the new high-priced API implemented by Twitter owner Elon Musk just isn’t worth it.
Intercom’s clients span many industries and include companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Udemy, and H&R Block using its customer support products and services. According to Forbes, the company had $200 million in annual revenue in 2021.
According to an Intercom customer service agent, the company decided to drop Twitter integration because “Twitter’s new APIs would require development work and additional costs for us and customers.” Intercom provides a “unified inbox” service which basically brings messages that a client receives on various social media channels and websites into a single platform interface.
Intercom says that current customers will continue to see historical Twitter DMs in their workspace and reports, but new Twitter DMs will no longer come in. Intercom customers will also no longer be able to reply to Twitter messages through Intercom’s service. Intercom will still support other channels, like Facebook and Instagram.
Intercom’s decision to drop Twitter clearly didn’t happen in a bubble. Intercom can obviously afford the new API fees but, like all businesses, evidently made a choice based on customer demand and what’s best for business.
Twitter is clearly going through some changes, and not just internally either; its user base is perceived to be shifting to the right politically, and catering to the interests of trolls, conspiracy theorists, and far-right personalities due to the decisions made by the Musk-run company. Worries about what user base is most likely to be served by a given platform can feed into corporate decisions like this one, though Intercom has made no indication thus far that this affected its decision.
In protest of the “government-funded media” label that Musk affixed to its Twitter profile page, both NPR and PBS announced that they would no longer post on the platform. Since Musk announced he would eventually remove the blue checkmark badge from legacy verified user accounts, some celebrities have shared that they would use Twitter less or even not at all. Half of Twitter’s top advertisers left the platform and as of last month, had yet to return.
Popular B2B business dumps Twitter over Musk’s API price hike
Over the past few weeks, countless indie developers have announced that they would have to shut down their Twitter-based apps due to the new exorbitant pricing that Twitter began rolling out for its API.
However, it’s not just small-time developers making the decision to pass on paying $42,000 per month to Twitter. Just this week, one of the biggest companies in the customer support and live chat space made the call to drop Twitter too.
On Thursday, Intercom announced that the company would “no longer support Twitter Integration due to the recent API pricing changes implemented by Twitter.” The decision was implemented immediately, as Intercom has already removed Twitter from its products.
This is a notable decision as Twitter has long been used as a major customer support channel for many businesses. Its usage as a customer-facing tool has been promoted by Twitter in the past. Since the social media platform’s early days, it’s become quite useful for Twitter’s users to be able to reach out to a company for help or to file a complaint.
And yet, Intercom, one of the leaders in the customer service space, has decided that the new high-priced API implemented by Twitter owner Elon Musk just isn’t worth it.
Intercom’s clients span many industries and include companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Udemy, and H&R Block using its customer support products and services. According to Forbes, the company had $200 million in annual revenue in 2021.
According to an Intercom customer service agent, the company decided to drop Twitter integration because “Twitter’s new APIs would require development work and additional costs for us and customers.” Intercom provides a “unified inbox” service which basically brings messages that a client receives on various social media channels and websites into a single platform interface.
Intercom says that current customers will continue to see historical Twitter DMs in their workspace and reports, but new Twitter DMs will no longer come in. Intercom customers will also no longer be able to reply to Twitter messages through Intercom’s service. Intercom will still support other channels, like Facebook and Instagram.
Intercom’s decision to drop Twitter clearly didn’t happen in a bubble. Intercom can obviously afford the new API fees but, like all businesses, evidently made a choice based on customer demand and what’s best for business.
Twitter is clearly going through some changes, and not just internally either; its user base is perceived to be shifting to the right politically, and catering to the interests of trolls, conspiracy theorists, and far-right personalities due to the decisions made by the Musk-run company. Worries about what user base is most likely to be served by a given platform can feed into corporate decisions like this one, though Intercom has made no indication thus far that this affected its decision.
In protest of the “government-funded media” label that Musk affixed to its Twitter profile page, both NPR and PBS announced that they would no longer post on the platform. Since Musk announced he would eventually remove the blue checkmark badge from legacy verified user accounts, some celebrities have shared that they would use Twitter less or even not at all. Half of Twitter’s top advertisers left the platform and as of last month, had yet to return.