Having acquired Gnip, Twitter is cutting off bulk access (the “firehose”) for everyone else - see e.g. Datasift announce and piece on recode.
Twitter have also been gradually shutting off / increasing control of access over the last few years. E.g. RSS shut down, then they changed API terms of use and got increasingly aggressive about that use.
It was always likely what the direction of travel would be for these “free” services - after all, somehow they’ve got to make money whilst providing “web-scale” service. But there’s nothing like an existence proof to give a distant predictable reality an immediacy that justifies action.
Of course the tough thing is the very reason we all use Facebook or Twitter or even Google is the immense direct and indirect network effects. That’s what makes it so tough for us individually to do much. However, as the need to monetise and protect their monopolies grow I think we are nearing the tipping point where we get some interesting innovation and disruption.
For a good review here see: http://stratechery.com/2015/twitter-might/ whose final paras i esp like:
Twitter’s story in many respects makes me think of Google: both companies started out benefiting greatly from openness and the power of both connecting users to what they were interested in and opening up powerful APIs to developers. The monetization model is even similar: note the AdSense reference above. Over time, though, Google has pulled more and more of its utility onto its own pages (and the revenue balance in the company has followed), just as Twitter focused on its own apps, and now Google is even starting to eat its best customers like travel websites and insurance agents (members-only), just like Twitter ate Datasift.
Frankly, the arc of both companies is simultaneously understandable and saddening to me. I’ve loved them both for the ways they have connected me to truly new ideas and new people, and it’s frustrating to see the growth imperative push both companies to turn increasingly inwards. One does wonder if they might find salvation in each other.