Review as you build

[smash_io]

I’ve done a brief search on the forum and elsewhere as well as submitting a support ticket, so here goes.

I’m build a feed reader app that can combine up to six social media feeds into one. Having got a basic app hosted and partially working I’m now checking against all the providers’ platform policies. While they’re all broadly consistent they have their own specfics as you would expect.

For Twitter I can see I would be breaking some of the rules, and others I could break in the future if I implement new features. Some platforms like Facebook allow you to submit your app for review but others I think don’t or I simply don’t know yet.

So my questions is can I submit my app, along with a brief, for review? I would also like clarification on new features to see if they would break the rules as well.

I’m willing to co-operate on all questions asked.

[ePirat]

As far as I know there is no way that an Application can be reviewed by Twitter now will they do so, as there is no Twitter marketplace for Apps or so, unlike on Facebook.
What you can do is explain what exactly you are doing and what features/rules you are concerned about, so that we (and mostly Twitter Staff) can clarify things, so that you know what you can/can’t do.

[smash_io]

I’ve reviewed the Twitter terms of use and, like the others, the main issues are:

1. replicating core functionality - hard to avoid if you implement a reader
2. building a social media database
3. aggregating user statistics

Flipping the viewpoint from the data providers view I can agree why they set them out. Performance benchmarking against competitors would rule #3 out. But I come unstuck on the first two. Firstly I want to aggregate social media feeds so you just view them as one big feed but would also clearly track back to the source and be branded in their colors.

But #1 is the real sticking point but I think my app would just be blocked by all the data providers so what’s the point?

[ePirat]

Your App description does not sound like it would replicate core functionality that much, so I think you should be fine, but some input from Twitter officials like @andypiper would be great!

[smash_io]

Are you sure? Anyway I started the Facebook review process and was blocked on the reader stream access. Linked In have pretty restrictive data policies so the feeds drop off one by one. Facebook would also block the Instagram feed too.

I know Hootsuite has plugins that allow you to read some feeds (Instagram?) but I think it is a (paid?) subscription service. What is required is a free, mass market reader that can do a similar job to what I’ve done. Not saying mine is the best but it’s nearly done and it works right now.

Would be good if all the data providers could agree on a revenue sharing model (ads?) to subsidise hostage costs and split profits (myself included) to keep the service free.

Getting the big six to agree though would be an uphill task so the only option is to abandon ship.

[aaronhoff]

Hi @smash_io, Our Platform Operations team will take a look at your ticket and respond asap. Let me know if you need any additional policy clarification.
-Aaron

[smash_io]

It might help to test the app with some demo accounts. Facebook only works for the developer (me) but the rest should be OK to play around with. If you click on the black, stylized ‘S’ all your feeds will be pulled into one mega feed capable of archive retrieval (within rate limits) and combined updates.

One issue to resolve is that you have to click on each feed again after the page reloads for each login. I know how to solve that problem now having thought it out but haven’t implemented it yet.

Once you get used to the speed and convenience of a combined feed for speed reading it’s hard to go back to single feeds (just my experience). I’m sure others would feel the same.

Data is cached and unreachable data is deleted hourly with all cached data routinely purged within 48 hours. Don’t create a user account though I haven’t implemented deletes for that yet.

The invitation is open to all other social media consumers too.