Why your favorite apps are in danger of annoying Twitter. And what Twitter is going to do about it.
Twitter's Olympics page
Twitter used to be something like a utility, but at some point along the way it decided to become a media company. And Twitter the media company looks a lot more like Facebook than the old Twitter. What that means is that Twitter wants — needs, really — to control every aspect of the Twitter experience. That also means cutting off apps or services that compete with Twitter — particularly competing media experiences — or that pull more value out of Twitter than they put in. Which is why Twitter just changed the rules of the game for developers that build things on top of, or for, Twitter.
What does Twitter the media company look like? Well, it does things like partner with the Olympics to produce slick, curated experiences like the one pictured above — which you can expect way more of. It tries to curate and surface stories it thinks you'll be interested in with its Discover tab. It sends you newsletters. It launches a Twitter political index. It worries about policing content. It tells developers to "to build content experiences and applications into Twitter" using its new media tool, Twitter Cards. It (eventually) delivers a simple-but-rich and beautiful experience that's consistent across every app.
Oh, and it makes money by selling ads.
Tumblr's signup page
