Maturation of the Twitter Ecosystem

maturation of the Twitter ecosystem

kevin makice (@kmakice)wednesday, july 22, 2009

this is me

this is me

my wife

5 tweets

10 tweets

this is also me

Kevin Makiceblog: http://www.blogschmog.netemail: [email protected]: kmakice

this is what i do

The Explanation for Design Ex-plan-ations Eli Blevis and Martin A. Siegel (2004)

conceptual design

The Explanation for Design Ex-plan-ations Eli Blevis and Martin A. Siegel (2004)

It is no longer sufficient to simply master the technical.

More and more, successful design requires a grounded understanding of why you are designing in the first place.

the maturing ecosystem

a history lesson

insights from the ecosystem

iterating the developer mindset

history of the ecosystemwhat is past is prologue


growing

November (2008) ~1,000 applications with the API

February (2009) ~2,000 applications with the API

April ~5,000 applications with the API

May ~10,000 applications with the API

growing





Most ideas are not unique. Design is about improving upon the existing foundation of ideas.

growing





Most ideas are not unique. Design is about improving upon the existing foundation of ideas.

Twitter Ecosystem Twinehttp://bit.ly/16Q7LP

the pioneersearly applications of the API


history of the ecosystem

the innovatorsapplications that found a niche



the futureareas of current interest



insights from the ecosystemwe know what we are, but know not what we may be


interaction cycle

stream

tweet

aggregate

profile

follow network

me

interaction cycle

stream

tweet

aggregate

profile

follow network

me

propertiesCodeActionScript/FlashC++C#/.NETJava Objective-C/CocoaPerlPHPPL/SQLPythonRubyScalaJavaScriptEiffel

SystemsGoogleMapsFlickrYouTubeAmazonTwitterVirtualEartheBayYahooMapsdeliciousGoogle

DomainArtisans BusinessClergy ConstructionDesign EducationEngineeringFarmingGovernmentJournalismLegal Manufacturer MedicalMerchant StudentsUnskilled Workers

Most popular APIs

PlatformBrowserDesktopMashupMobileWebWidget

propertiesCodeActionScript/FlashC++C#/.NETJava Objective-C/CocoaPerlPHPPL/SQLPythonRubyScalaJavaScriptEiffel

SystemsGoogleMapsFlickrYouTubeAmazonTwitterVirtualEartheBayYahooMapsdeliciousGoogle

DomainArtisans BusinessClergy ConstructionDesign EducationEngineeringFarmingGovernmentJournalismLegal Manufacturer MedicalMerchant StudentsUnskilled Workers

Most popular APIs

PlatformBrowserDesktopMashupMobileWebWidget

The ecosystem is a multiverse.

valueless questions

How much does the application need context?

How quickly is the outcome from the interaction enjoyed?

Is value created individually or through contributions of a user community?

How open is the access to the interface (public vs. private)?

How much does the application focus on Network, Content, or Profile?

Is the intended use of the application Casual or Professional?

Is value created from a single tweet or an aggregation of posts?

Is the valued information reflected or calculated?

valueless questions

Does the application maintain a historical context?

How much does this tool support anonymity?

Are users inherently part of other groups, such as by industry or geography?

How visible is the process?

Does the application service developers, authors, or consumers?

What are the metrics needed to determine the value of use?

How do those metrics influence use of Twitter and suggest behavior?

local twittersphereapplications helping to highlight local use



discovering opportunityusing valueless factors to identify gaps



n-factor diagrams

Good Evil

Red Green

n-factor diagrams

Small Big

Good Evil

Red Green

n-factor diagrams

Small Big

Good Evil

Red Green

Valueless terms do not judge the properties of the design.

content

Profile Stream

Where is the content focus of the tool?

content

Profile Stream

Twellowhood

chirpcity

NearbyTweets Local Chirps Happn.inTwitterLocal

dataset

Single Aggregate

What is the range of the data set needed to create value?

dataset

Single Aggregate

Twellowhood

chirpcity

NearbyTweets Local Chirps Happn.in

TwitterLocal

content-dataset

Profile Stream

Sin

gle

Aggre

gate

content-dataset

Profile StreamSin

gle

Aggre

gate

Twellowhoodchirpcity

NearbyTweets

Local Chirps

Happn.in

TwitterLocal

content-dataset

Profile StreamSin

gle

Aggre

gate


NearbyTweets

Local Chirps

Happn.in

TwitterLocal

concept: city mosaic

Bloomington, Indiana 57 followers | following 94

Indiana professor technology

student business

marketing fun single happy cow Hoosier

basketball

the developer’s mindsetin the heart of in the head


1) be secureexpect the unexpected


the developer’s mindset

best practices

don't store passwords (use OAuth)

validate incoming data / FIEO (Filter Input, Escape Output)

make requests over SSL

let your users talk to you ([email protected])

consider use of random tokens to prevent forgery (CSRF)

cap repetitious interactions (i.e. logins)

make use of activity logs

best practices

don't store passwords (use OAuth)

validate incoming data / FIEO (Filter Input, Escape Output)

make requests over SSL

let your users talk to you ([email protected])

consider use of random tokens to prevent forgery (CSRF)

cap repetitious interactions (i.e. logins)

make use of activity logs

Twitter Security Best Practiceshttp://apiwiki.twitter.com/Security-Best-Practices

2) know your impactyour use is not their use



developer demographics

18-50

Children

Married

Male

may 2009

developer demographics

18-50

Children

Married

Male

may 2009

√

√

√

√

http://bit.ly/tHork

Developers are rarely an example of a typical user.

one man’s treasure…

3) shareif you create new data, create an API



pay it forward

http://www.webresourcesdepot.com/how-to-create-an-api-10-tutorials/

people invest heavily in APIs (learning)

you have one chance to make a good API and many opportunities to make bad (inheritance)

•easy to learn•easy to use / hard to misuse•sufficiently powerful •must be able to evolve•appropriate to audience Joshua Bloch’s talk, “How to Design a Good

API”http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=aAb7hSCtvGw

4) iteratedesigns are never finished



people change

5) ask & answerbe a part of the community



resourcesTwitter API Wikihttp://apiwiki.twitter.comhttp://apiwiki.twitter.com/REST+API+Changelog (55 fixes & changes)

Twitter Fan Wikihttp://twitter.pbworks.com

Twitter Blogs:http://blog.twitter.com, http://apiblog.twitter.com

Twitter Developer Communityhttp://groups.google.com/group/twitter-development-talkhttp://groups.google.com/group/twitter-api-announce

Follow: @twitterapi, @tweetreport, @Twitter_Tips, and @the_api_book

summaryfinal thoughts on the ecosystem

finding design opportunities in the Twitter ecosystem

understand the past

look for opportunity

Profile StreamSin

gle

Aggre

gate


NearbyTweets

Local Chirps

Happn.in

TwitterLocal

change your mind(set)

justify design decisions

We need food and Legos.

Please give our dad a

job.

We need food and Legos.

Please hire dad to do research.

I’m new.

questions?

Kevin Makiceblog: http://www.blogschmog.netemail: [email protected]: kmakice

Thanks!

10,000 appsTwitter Fan Wikihttp://twitter.pbworks.com/Apps

Twitdomhttp://twitdom.com/

Go2Webhttp://www.go2web20.net/#tag:twitter

Twitter Little Starhttp://twitterlittlestar.com/

140 Characters Conferencehttp://www.140conf.com/application-directory

Twapplicationshttp://www.twapplications.net/

Technology

Maturation of the Twitter Ecosystem