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Advertisers leave, Twitter bans third-party platforms

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.

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 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.