Look up in the sky! Is that a plane, or is it Superman, or is it a… oh, it’s that blue bird again.
Pause and scram: Turns out more than 500 advertisers paused spending on the platform. Quite the number.
Tiny scoop: We learned today that Twitter’s revenue is down 40 percent year over year (& Musk’s first giant interest payment on the company is due at the end of the month): https://t.co/IH7lJiQ0Dw
— Zoë Schiffer (@ZoeSchiffer) January 18, 2023
And while Twitter has downplayed the exodus, the thing that’s really down is revenue, which dropped 40% compared to the same day last year.
Not a mistake: Yep, Twitter has officially blocked third-party tools like Tweetbot, Birdie, Echofon, and others from using the platform’s API.
Twitter is enforcing its long-standing API rules. That may result in some apps not working.
— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) January 17, 2023
Twitter said it’s simply “enforcing its API rules,” which these clients allegedly violated.
Unsurprisingly, developers aren’t happy about it.
Why we care: The great advertiser exodus is an opportunity for smaller advertisers to test out Twitter ads, especially since costs may plummet.
Of course, the ban on third-party tools makes everyday platform usage a bit more difficult, too.
If you’re in B2B, there’s a lesson here: Don’t build your entire business on other platforms because they can pull the plug anytime without warning.