Twitter Expands API For ‘Super Follows’ And To Allow Developers Build Bots That Posts And Deletes Tweets

In the wake of its mid-2020 relaunch, micro blogging site, Twitter has continuously been updating its API to reflect new changes, with the most recent of them being the addition of support for Twitter Spaces to its developer platform. One of them is the announcement of a  program that allows developers build better Twitter bots where endpoints allows users to tweet, delete tweets, post polls, use the ‘Reply’ setting and tag people in posted images. According to Twitter, the new support allows the Super Follows Functionality, to enable developers build out solutions to give creators more leverage.

Twitter has being equivocal with its belief that despite the fact that bots that posts spam are not ideal for  users, other  bots can be very helpful, with the company introducing in September a new label that would enable what it termed ‘good bots’ to properly give themselves identification. It further on went to give examples of the good bots, like the public service account @earthquakesSF; a bot offering COVID-19 updates called @vax_progress; a bot that offers an ongoing breakdown of the last 100 bills introduced in Congress, @last100bills; an accessibility-focused bot, @AltTxtReminder; and others that just add value in their own way, like @met_drawings, which shares public domain works from The Met’s Drawings and Prints department, or the goofy @EmojiMashupBot, among others.

The introduction of ‘manage tweets’ by Twitter, gives smarter functionalities like the ability to post and delete tweets for an authenticated accounts, in the process enabling Twitter cleanup solutions, like those who remove old tweets on behalf of their users or solutions that post automatic updates, like the above bots, as an example. The polls and the image tagging is also expected to make tweets more interactive and conversational.

Aside promoting features that enables developers post tweets and control how they operate and what they include, Twitter is also bolstering the new API to give support to its creator platform, ‘Super Follows’.

The Twitter ‘Super Follows’, that began official operation with its public launching in September 2021, is a feature that allows users  support their favourite creators on the Twitter platform by subscribing to their exclusive content, like member-only tweets and newsletters, for instance.  It also allows fans to have access to private communities, deals, discounts or other membership perks, while receiving a supporter badge that is largely dependent on how the creator sets up their Super Follow membership program.

The company with the API changes is infusing the capacity to share tweets to Super Followers through the API, allowing developers build out solutions that help creators make income from their Twitter fan base and followership.

With Twitter affirming that this new API functionality came into existence as a result of the company’s alignment with community feedback, it is believed the not so gratifying part of the feature will be constantly improved upon.