Twitter is determined to be present across the most popular apps, and it is working toward this goal aggressively. Recently the social network launched Flock, a worldwide tour that will suggest to developers on how to include tweets into their apps through Twitter’s Fabric programming kits.
Cash prize to attract more audience
The micro-blogging site is all set to start its campaign in Los Angeles on Jan. 21, and from there, it will move to other U.S. cities thereafter, and then on to major international hubs such as Bangalore, London, Sao Paulo and Tokyo. Those attending the event will get an opportunity to talk to Twitter engineers and developers.
There is some cash prize attraction too. Twitter is launching Hatch, a contest that will reward start-ups with cash prizes for their clever use of Fabrics in their apps. The winner will be entitled to $25,000, whereas the runner-ups will get ad-credits and an opportunity to have a one-on-one chat with a Twitter executive. The finalists will be announced on June 22 and the winner in July.
Apart from announcing the specific cities and dates for the Flock tour, Twitter also suggested that it will make some changes to the SDK, like upgrading the distribution tool and adding a new self-service app installs tracking feature.
Will it help Twitter?
Twitter has invited all developers saying, “Think you’re going to launch the next great app? We want to hear about it.”
Developers can read the details on the Hatch homepage, and interested start-ups will be required to be present at the Flock event in their city to meet developer advocates and engineers. Ten finalists will be selected to present their ideas at the Hatch gala in July in San Francisco.
As of now, it’s not clear how the strategies adopted by Twitter will benefit the company, but these steps could encourage would-be partners who otherwise are reluctant to give it a try. Even now, some of the major concerns of developers remain unanswered, such as user caps for third-party apps that cripple their ability to compete with official apps.
Hatch and Flock might be helpful in supporting the diminishing bottom line of the company, but it needs to do more to convince developers that it is not putting any fabricated limits on their success.
