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Comment by ceol | Hacker News Reader

    >The problem with this solution is that Twitter was built
    >on the backs of the very developers it is now blocking.

Was it really? I've never seen any specific stats, but what are the number of users solely relying on a third party app to use Twitter versus the number of users who just use the site? I bet there are a lot more who just go to mobile.twitter.com or use the official client instead of paying for a third party app.

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Twitter didn't have an official mobile client for a while. It was the 3rd-party developers that brought Twitter to mobile.

Twitter's web app stagnated until recently. Apps like Tweetdeck filled the gap.

Didn't the "official" client start out as a third party app. Tweetie.

And I'm asking how much of an effect it really had. The fact third party apps exist doesn't mean the majority of users, or even a worthwhile number, use them.

Yes, it did.

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