RIP Twitter Search API
The Twitter Search API we have used for gathering data since 2010 appears to be gone. Is the academic API also gone? I have heard the price of access is prohibitive. What does this mean? Foremost, if you do research on Twitter data, back up everything you already have. If you have any Twitter datasets you are now an archivist with precious cargo. Limiting access to new data hinders the ability of researchers to understand the evolving ways in which the platform is used in ongoing information warfare operations, for example to exacerbate polarization in democratic countries and trigger future insurrections here in the United States. However, at the scale of, say a university or even all universities, there is a massive amount of stored data. One thing I notice about misinformation propagandists weaponizing Twitter is they like to stick with what they know already works. While we figure out how to access and study new data we should meanwhile be aware that the tactics previously used give important clues about what is coming. I don't think Mr. Musk bought Twitter to make money. So the concern for me is more about what other reasons would inspire him to overpay for a money losing business and then set about changing the user composition, researchers access, governance mechanisms, and other really important elements. I am worried specifically that the future power users able to pay for API access points will shape more of what goes onto the platform and shows up at the top of the feeds. The general trend is disconcerting and dangerous with proto-fascists running about banning books and Elon platforming white supremacists and their fellow travelers.
Thoughts: 1. Is there any preliminary information on new API registration for either commercial or academic use? 2. Depending on contractual limitations for any new API service, if any, I wonder if it'd be possible to set up a non-profit which facilitated academic use? This might help with cost sharing if the cost ends up as high as you speculate. 3. Depending on the rules under which existing academic datasets were collected, might it be possible to share those among academic users? Again, a non-profit created for the purpose might facilitate the ethical sharing of existing datasets among academic users. Fred -- Fred Fuchs - Founder, CEO, & Producer FireSabre Consulting LLC Content Services for Virtual Worlds --- On 3/11/2023 10:56 AM, Stuart Shulman via Air-L wrote:
The Twitter Search API we have used for gathering data since 2010 appears to be gone. Is the academic API also gone? I have heard the price of access is prohibitive. What does this mean? Foremost, if you do research on Twitter data, back up everything you already have. If you have any Twitter datasets you are now an archivist with precious cargo. Limiting access to new data hinders the ability of researchers to understand the evolving ways in which the platform is used in ongoing information warfare operations, for example to exacerbate polarization in democratic countries and trigger future insurrections here in the United States. However, at the scale of, say a university or even all universities, there is a massive amount of stored data. One thing I notice about misinformation propagandists weaponizing Twitter is they like to stick with what they know already works. While we figure out how to access and study new data we should meanwhile be aware that the tactics previously used give important clues about what is coming. I don't think Mr. Musk bought Twitter to make money. So the concern for me is more about what other reasons would inspire him to overpay for a money losing business and then set about changing the user composition, researchers access, governance mechanisms, and other really important elements. I am worried specifically that the future power users able to pay for API access points will shape more of what goes onto the platform and shows up at the top of the feeds. The general trend is disconcerting and dangerous with proto-fascists running about banning books and Elon platforming white supremacists and their fellow travelers. _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
Well, there's this, which gave me a nice laugh yesterday: https://www.wired.com/story/twitter-data-api-prices-out-nearly-everyone/ On 3/11/2023 1:18 PM, Fred Fuchs via Air-L wrote:
Thoughts:
1. Is there any preliminary information on new API registration for either commercial or academic use?
2. Depending on contractual limitations for any new API service, if any, I wonder if it'd be possible to set up a non-profit which facilitated academic use? This might help with cost sharing if the cost ends up as high as you speculate.
3. Depending on the rules under which existing academic datasets were collected, might it be possible to share those among academic users? Again, a non-profit created for the purpose might facilitate the ethical sharing of existing datasets among academic users.
Fred
-- Deen Freelon, Ph.D. Associate Professor | Hussman School of Journalism and Media Principal Researcher | Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://dfreelon.org | @dfreelon <https://twitter.com/dfreelon> | https://github.com/dfreelon | https://citap.unc.edu/ Schedule an appointment with me <https://doodle.com/bp/deenfreelon/book-a-time>
It sounds like maybe you were still using the v1.1 API? It looks like v2 is still live...for now. On Mar 11, 2023 11:56 AM, Stuart Shulman via Air-L <air-l@listserv.aoir.org> wrote: The Twitter Search API we have used for gathering data since 2010 appears to be gone. Is the academic API also gone? I have heard the price of access is prohibitive. What does this mean? Foremost, if you do research on Twitter data, back up everything you already have. If you have any Twitter datasets you are now an archivist with precious cargo. Limiting access to new data hinders the ability of researchers to understand the evolving ways in which the platform is used in ongoing information warfare operations, for example to exacerbate polarization in democratic countries and trigger future insurrections here in the United States. However, at the scale of, say a university or even all universities, there is a massive amount of stored data. One thing I notice about misinformation propagandists weaponizing Twitter is they like to stick with what they know already works. While we figure out how to access and study new data we should meanwhile be aware that the tactics previously used give important clues about what is coming. I don't think Mr. Musk bought Twitter to make money. So the concern for me is more about what other reasons would inspire him to overpay for a money losing business and then set about changing the user composition, researchers access, governance mechanisms, and other really important elements. I am worried specifically that the future power users able to pay for API access points will shape more of what goes onto the platform and shows up at the top of the feeds. The general trend is disconcerting and dangerous with proto-fascists running about banning books and Elon platforming white supremacists and their fellow travelers. _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
Are you sure the API is gone? For Facepager, the endpoint https://api.twitter.com/1.1/search/tweets.json still works. Am 11.03.2023 um 23:42 schrieb Ed Summers via Air-L:
It sounds like maybe you were still using the v1.1 API? It looks like v2 is still live...for now.
On Mar 11, 2023 11:56 AM, Stuart Shulman via Air-L <air-l@listserv.aoir.org> wrote:
The Twitter Search API we have used for gathering data since 2010 appears to be gone. Is the academic API also gone? I have heard the price of access is prohibitive. What does this mean? Foremost, if you do research on Twitter data, back up everything you already have. If you have any Twitter datasets you are now an archivist with precious cargo. Limiting access to new data hinders the ability of researchers to understand the evolving ways in which the platform is used in ongoing information warfare operations, for example to exacerbate polarization in democratic countries and trigger future insurrections here in the United States. However, at the scale of, say a university or even all universities, there is a massive amount of stored data. One thing I notice about misinformation propagandists weaponizing Twitter is they like to stick with what they know already works. While we figure out how to access and study new data we should meanwhile be aware that the tactics previously used give important clues about what is coming. I don't think Mr. Musk bought Twitter to make money. So the concern for me is more about what other reasons would inspire him to overpay for a money losing business and then set about changing the user composition, researchers access, governance mechanisms, and other really important elements. I am worried specifically that the future power users able to pay for API access points will shape more of what goes onto the platform and shows up at the top of the feeds. The general trend is disconcerting and dangerous with proto-fascists running about banning books and Elon platforming white supremacists and their fellow travelers. _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/ _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- Jakob Jünger University of Münster Institute of Communication Chair of Digital Media & Computational Methods Bispinghof 9-14 48143 Münster Germany Phone: +49 251 83-21273 https://www.uni-muenster.de/Kowi/personen/jakob-juenger.html
I am not sure how or why, but access to the Twitter Search API is back via DiscoverText. I did get a number of notes saying "Are you sure?" after the RIP note and I was fairly certain until today and our API keys were renewed. We are also looking at connecting some new social data APIs so please send ideas if you have suggestions of open, reliable, stable APIs. One non-social media platform we are exploring for medical research is: https://clinicaltrials.gov. On Sat, Mar 11, 2023 at 12:08 PM Stuart Shulman via Air-L < air-l@listserv.aoir.org> wrote:
The Twitter Search API we have used for gathering data since 2010 appears to be gone. Is the academic API also gone? I have heard the price of access is prohibitive. What does this mean? Foremost, if you do research on Twitter data, back up everything you already have. If you have any Twitter datasets you are now an archivist with precious cargo. Limiting access to new data hinders the ability of researchers to understand the evolving ways in which the platform is used in ongoing information warfare operations, for example to exacerbate polarization in democratic countries and trigger future insurrections here in the United States. However, at the scale of, say a university or even all universities, there is a massive amount of stored data. One thing I notice about misinformation propagandists weaponizing Twitter is they like to stick with what they know already works. While we figure out how to access and study new data we should meanwhile be aware that the tactics previously used give important clues about what is coming. I don't think Mr. Musk bought Twitter to make money. So the concern for me is more about what other reasons would inspire him to overpay for a money losing business and then set about changing the user composition, researchers access, governance mechanisms, and other really important elements. I am worried specifically that the future power users able to pay for API access points will shape more of what goes onto the platform and shows up at the top of the feeds. The general trend is disconcerting and dangerous with proto-fascists running about banning books and Elon platforming white supremacists and their fellow travelers. _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- Dr. Stuart W. Shulman Founder and CEO, Texifter Editor Emeritus, *Journal of Information Technology & Politics*
participants (6)
-
Deen Freelon -
Ed Summers -
Fred Fuchs -
Jakob Jünger -
Shulman, Stu -
Stuart Shulman