Twitter’s internal turmoil is further evidenced by the abrupt end of its Chirp program. It was cancelled just two weeks prior to the scheduled date of November 16th. The company alerted developers and other attendees in a brief note that didn’t provide a reason for the cancellation.
“The team at Twitter is hard at work right now to make Twitter better for everyone – including developers,” the message says. “While we are heads down working on some exciting things for you, we’ve decided to cancel our #Chirp Developer Conference.”
Twitter spokeswoman declined to comment about the reason behind the cancellation. Chirp was invited to members of the media two weeks ago. “Chirp is the first time we will bring our developer community from around the globe together in person to preview some new tools, discuss feedback, and celebrate the developers that are making it easier for people on Twitter to discover content, have safer conversations, and impact the greater good,” a Twitter spokesperson said at the time.
We’re currently hard at work to make Twitter better for everyone, including developers! We’ve decided to cancel the #Chirp developer conference while we build some things that we’re excited to share with you soon.
— Twitter Dev (@TwitterDev) November 2, 2022
While sudden, the cancellation isn’t particularly shocking, given Musk’s recent takeover of the company. In addition to shaking up its leadership, he’s also vowed to significantly change the company’s subscription service, Twitter Blue, and is likely to make changes to content moderation and other policies. It wouldn’t be surprising if he also has a different vision for Twitter’s developer strategy.
The cancellation of Twitter’s developer program will be disappointing for them. Over the years, Twitter has had a difficult relationship with developers. However, it has remained friendly over the years. We tried to redesign its developer platform using new APIs And apps. Chirp was set to be Twitter’s first in-person developer conference since 2015. Now, like many other aspects of Twitter under Musk, the company’s plans for developers are once again uncertain.
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