Features of the Streaming API

[Alexand36241853]

Hello!

Our app is supposed to track the statistics of the user’s account (after his approval) for demonstrating it to our app’s user. To provide that, we need to get real-time notifications when:

• somebody unfollows our user;
• our user follows another user;
• another user follows our user;
• our user unfollows somebody.
  Our app will be located on 2-3 servers and would be able to maintain several thousands of our users. That means that we can’t use User Stream API and also it’s unavailable to make the request for Site Stream API for now.

We’re interested in Account Activity API service, but we noticed the limit of 50 subscribers for a single app. We’re planning to have much more subscribers after the app launch.

So, we’re curious if it is possible to implement the recieving of the notifications listed above from the big amount of users using several servers?

Also, is it possible to refresh our database real-time to show our users following/unfollowing statuses using Account Activity API?

Finally, is it correct that we can’t obtain the information about unfollowers via User Stream API or with another method?

Thank you in advance,
Alexander.

[andypiper]

Our app will be located on 2-3 servers and would be able to maintain several thousands of our users. That means that we can’t use User Stream API and also it’s unavailable to make the request for Site Stream API for now.

Both site streams and user streams are being withdrawn in favour of the webhook-based Account Activity API in the future.

We’re interested in Account Activity API service, but we noticed the limit of 50 subscribers for a single app. We’re planning to have much more subscribers after the app launch.

This is a limitation of the beta, and in the future it is intended that it will be possible to scale up to more subscribers on a tiered access model.

So, we’re curious if it is possible to implement the recieving of the notifications listed above from the big amount of users using several servers?

This is against the API terms of use. You should not use multiple IP addresses or app IDs to attempt to circumvent the limits of the API. You should not attempt to run multiple streaming connections for the same app simultaneously - this will lead to the earliest connection being broken.

Also, is it possible to refresh our database real-time to show our users following/unfollowing statuses using Account Activity API?

Today, the Account Activity API beta supports Direct Message events. In the future it is intended that it will cover event types similar to those available in user streams but I am unable to confirm that it will definitely support either follow or unfollow events.

Finally, is it correct that we can’t obtain the information about unfollowers via User Stream API or with another method?

You cannot do that via the streaming API. You could do that by checking on the follower list on the REST API on a periodic basis, and comparing to see which users unfollowed.

[Alexand36241853]

This is against the API terms of use. You should not use multiple IP addresses or app IDs to attempt to circumvent the limits of the API. You should not attempt to run multiple streaming connections for the same app simultaneously - this will lead to the earliest connection being broken.

There are many services that provide the functionality described by me and even more.

TweetPilot - Grow and Manage your Twitter Account

Tweepi.com
Toolset.co

Find out who's not following you back on Twitter, Tumblr, & Pinterest.

Re-follow.com
Do you have any idea how they carry out their activities?

[andypiper]

I do not know.

If there are specific instances where apps are violating the API policy they will be investigated and action will be taken. We do not endorse automated following and we do not endorse “get free followers” apps.

We cannot comment on individual cases on the public developer forums.

You asked for guidance on a range of questions related to the streaming API and I’ve provided the best factual information that I could. I hope that helps.