Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest news from USA, Canada and Europe directly to your inbox.

    What's Hot

    Tens of thousands of jobs at risk after UBS takeover of Credit Suisse

    March 21, 2023

    Virtuix's Omni One VR treadmill is finally making its way to customers

    March 21, 2023

    Patients seeking PRP therapy for COVID-related hair loss, but does it work?

    March 21, 2023
    Facebook Twitter Instagram
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms
    • Contact
    Facebook Twitter Instagram
    West ObserverWest Observer
    • Home
    • News
      1. United States
      2. Europe
      3. Canada
      4. Latin America
      5. Australia
      6. World
      7. View All

      US Welcomes Yemen Prisoner Exchange Deal

      March 21, 2023

      IMF Approves $3 Billion Economic Rescue Package for Sri Lanka

      March 21, 2023

      Biden Expresses Support for ‘Brave Women’ of Iran as White House Marks Nowruz

      March 21, 2023

      Russian Ambassador in Canberra says Australians ‘Brainwashed’ into Supporting Ukraine

      March 21, 2023

      Breaking and live news from Russia’s war in Ukraine: Japan’s PM travels to Kyiv while Xi remains in Moscow

      March 21, 2023

      Ukraine – Russia war: latest news live | Xi to Putin: “Most countries support easing tensions” in Ukraine

      March 21, 2023

      Russia says it shot down Ukrainian drones in Crimea

      March 21, 2023

      Pension reform: Emmanuel Macron will give his first interview after the adoption of the text on Wednesday, at 1 p.m., on France 2 and TF1

      March 21, 2023

      Patients seeking PRP therapy for COVID-related hair loss, but does it work?

      March 21, 2023

      March Madness: Sweet 16 matchups are set after wild weekend

      March 21, 2023

      B.C. parent launches class-action lawsuit against makers of Fortnite video game

      March 21, 2023

      Feds spend $26M on growth and innovation of Vancouver-based companies

      March 21, 2023

      Reunião do Copom, USA reinforces security for protests called by Trump on March 21

      March 21, 2023

      United Kingdom registers atypical case of mal da vaca louca, reports health authority

      March 21, 2023

      Ben Affleck and Matt Damon work together again and talk about a new film

      March 21, 2023

      Dino is alvo of 15 summon requests in the Comissão de Segurança na Câmara

      March 21, 2023

      Al-Arabiya celebrates the 20th anniversary of its founding…and launches its radio

      March 21, 2023

      France is looking for a leader… and Maynan succeeds Lloris

      March 21, 2023

      10,000 spectators for the play “Tirhal” in Diriyah

      March 21, 2023

      Biden issues a law declassifying information about the origin of “Covid-19”

      March 21, 2023

      Patients seeking PRP therapy for COVID-related hair loss, but does it work?

      March 21, 2023

      US Welcomes Yemen Prisoner Exchange Deal

      March 21, 2023

      Breaking and live news from Russia’s war in Ukraine: Japan’s PM travels to Kyiv while Xi remains in Moscow

      March 21, 2023

      Reunião do Copom, USA reinforces security for protests called by Trump on March 21

      March 21, 2023
    • Politics
    • Business
    • Lifestyle
    • Tech
    • Sports
    • Travel
    • More
      • Entertainment
      • Videos
    en English
    en Englishes Españolfr Françaisde Deutschhi हिन्दीit Italianoja 日本語pt Portuguêsru Русскийzh-CN 简体中文
    West ObserverWest Observer
    Home » Like users, app developers are fleeing Twitter for Mastodon

    Like users, app developers are fleeing Twitter for Mastodon

    January 28, 2023No Comments Tech
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Reddit Telegram
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    When Twitter its developer policies to ban third-party clients from its platform, it abruptly closed an important chapter of Twitter’s history. Unlike most of its counterparts, which tightly control what developers are able to access, Twitter has a long history with independent app makers.

    Now, the developers of some Twitter clients are turning their attention to another upstart platform: Mastodon. This week, Tapbots, the studio behind Tweebot, , a Mastodon client based on its longtime Twitter app. Matteo Villa, the developer behind Twitter app Fenix, is testing a Mastodon client of his own . Junyu Kuang, the indie developer behind Twitter client Spring is working on a Mastodon app . Shihab Mehboob, developer of Twitter app Aviary, is close to launching a Mastodon client .

    The one-time Twitter developers join of independent app makers who have embraced Mastodon, the open-source social network that’s seen explosive growth since Elon Musk took over Twitter. The decentralized service now has more than 1.5 million users across nearly 10,000 servers. That, coupled with Mastodon’s open-source, “API-first” approach, has attracted dozens of developers eager to put their own spin on the service.

    Mastodon

    Paul Haddad, one of the developers behind Tweetbot and Ivory, says Tapbots started working on a Mastodon client late last year as they started to grow nervous about the future of Twitter’s developer platform.

    “They [Twitter] had absolutely been making huge strides and opening up their API platform, but clients like ours were always going to be second- or third-class citizens,” says Haddad. “Whereas with Mastodon, that's absolutely not the case.”

    Thomas Ricouard, the developer behind, a Mastodon app that launched earlier this month, says that he had considered building an app with Twitter's API in the past, but decided against it because it was “looking more and more limited as the days passed.” At the same time, he says he noticed fewer and fewer familiar faces on his Twitter timeline. “Loving open source software,” he says, “I quickly saw the opportunity [for Mastodon].”

    Today a new third-party #Mastodon app, Ice Cubes, launched on iOS. At least two more, Ivory from @tapbots and Mona from @theSpringApp, are being developed. Third-party apps are where the innovation happens!

    — Mastodon (@[email protected]) (@joinmastodon) January 20, 2023

    Ice Cubes launched in the App Store January 19th, and it has already won the praise of reviewers and has dozens of contributors on GitHub. Even Twitter co-founder Ev Williams, who has been on Mastodon lately, uses the app.

    On its part, Mastodon has welcomed developer interest even though it maintains its own mobile apps. “It's exciting because it means that a lot of very talented people are investing their time and resources into building on the platform and ecosystem that we have built up,” Mastodon founder and CEO Eugen Rochko tells Engadget. “Third party applications are incredibly valuable for a platform because that's where the power users go … it benefits everybody because the power users are the people who create the content that everybody reads.”

    Developers’ contributions also have the potential to influence the direction of the platform itself. Just as Twitter’s earliest developers had an outsize impact on the service, some developers now see an opportunity to similarly influence Mastodon.

    Both Ricouard and Haddad noted that official Mastodon apps currently don’t support quoting — the Mastodon equivalent of a quote tweet — but some clients, like Ice Cubes and Mona, do. “I think the client developers are able to implement that feature within the app, we're probably going to push it to go higher up on the radar of the Mastodon server developers,” Haddad predicts. Mastodon so far hasn’t publicly committed to adding quotes but Rochko, who was once the feature, recently said he’s it.

    Mastodon developers have experimented with other unique additions, too. Ice Cubes has Chat GPT-powered prompts that will spice up the text of your post (or "toot" as they are known to longtime Mastodon users). Wooly groups notifications in batches, similar to Twitter. Tapbots is working on a Mac app that will sync with Ivory’s iOS app, much like Tweetbot did across platforms.

    I’ve experimented with integrating #OpenAI#ChatGPT right into my open source Mastodon client, I’ve added 3 prompts for now, to correct your toot, shorten and emphasise it! pic.twitter.com/41XEC3w8Bv

    — Thomas Ricouard (@Dimillian) January 13, 2023

    “Mastodon is in the [same] early phase Twitter was, where third party apps will have a big impact on the future product focus and development,” says Ricouard.

    Rochko says that while he’s happy to see the growing number of Mastodon clients, he’s not in a hurry to try to replicate their features. Mastodon is still a nonprofit with a small team and a lengthy . “It's definitely interesting to see different ideas tested out and experimented with and I think that long term, there's probably going to be influence over the official apps,” he says.

    Still, not every former Twitter client developer is eager to start over on Mastodon. “I’m not sure if I want to create a Mastodon app but you should definitely check out those other developers who have,” Tweetings said in a farewell post . Twitterrific’s developers are also unsure if Mastodon fits into their future plans.

    Much will likely depend on if Mastodon is able to maintain its current growth and continue to attract new users. And as much as many former Twitter users see it as a replacement, Mastodon is structured very differently, and not everyone finds it as as Twitter. Rochko, who started Mastodon in 2017, says he’s optimistic because the site continues to add influential users.

    “What's exciting to me about the latest wave of users on Mastodon is not the numbers but the who. The people who have joined from various journalist organizations, media organizations, politicians, actors, writers, and just you know, famous internet people — like the olden days.”



    Source: Engadget

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email VKontakte WhatsApp

    Related Posts

    Virtuix's Omni One VR treadmill is finally making its way to customers

    March 21, 2023

    Oppo's Find X6 Pro packs a 1-inch sensor and a periscopic camera

    March 21, 2023

    Duolingo is building a music learning app

    March 21, 2023

    Kamado Joe's new ceramic grill has built-in smart features and one-button ignition

    March 20, 2023

    Xbox head says Microsoft's mobile game store could arrive next year

    March 20, 2023

    Amazon's Echo Show 8 drops back to $75

    March 20, 2023
    Don't Miss

    Patients seeking PRP therapy for COVID-related hair loss, but does it work?

    Canada March 21, 2023

    The list of ways a COVID-19 infection disrupts the body’s natural functions is long…

    JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank must face lawsuits over Jeffrey Epstein ties, judge says | CNN Business

    March 21, 2023

    Villa host holders Chelsea in Women’s FA Cup semis

    March 21, 2023

    US Welcomes Yemen Prisoner Exchange Deal

    March 21, 2023
    Stay In Touch
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Vimeo
    Our Picks

    Breaking and live news from Russia’s war in Ukraine: Japan’s PM travels to Kyiv while Xi remains in Moscow

    March 21, 2023

    Reunião do Copom, USA reinforces security for protests called by Trump on March 21

    March 21, 2023

    Ukraine – Russia war: latest news live | Xi to Putin: “Most countries support easing tensions” in Ukraine

    March 21, 2023

    Russia says it shot down Ukrainian drones in Crimea

    March 21, 2023

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest news from USA, Canada and Europe directly to your inbox.

    About Us
    About Us

    Your #1 source for all the website news, follow USA, Europe and Canada News. Latest reports about business, politics and entertainment.

    We're accepting new partnerships right now.

    Email Us: [email protected]

    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Our Picks

    Tens of thousands of jobs at risk after UBS takeover of Credit Suisse

    March 21, 2023

    Virtuix's Omni One VR treadmill is finally making its way to customers

    March 21, 2023

    Patients seeking PRP therapy for COVID-related hair loss, but does it work?

    March 21, 2023
    Newsletter

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest news from USA, Canada and Europe directly to your inbox.

    © 2023 West Observer. All Rights Reserved.
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms
    • Contact
    • Khaleej Voice

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.