Twitter与LinkedIn决裂内幕

    从表面上看，正如斯皮瓦克所说，这是相当“聪明、划算、厉害的一招”。不过这一招其实非常明显，我认为Twitter的智囊们肯定已经想过这一招了。为什么这种基于广告的API安排对LinkedIn不适用，我们还不清楚具体原因，不过还是有一些蛛丝马迹可循。

    Twitter已经表示，为了在所有应用中建立更统一的消费体验，裁掉冗余的应用，Twitter将于几周后推出更严格的API使用指导原则。这句话里最重要的一个词就是“消费”。像LinkedIn这种以消费者为中心的应用，尤其是那些“复制了Twitter的主要消费客户体验”，但又缺乏新意的应用，似乎将首当其冲，成为Twitter开刀的对象。

    但是以企业用户为中心的应用又是另一回事了。Twitter的平台总监莱恩•萨维尔去年曾在一篇博文中指出了几个“生态系统开发者正在蒸蒸日上”的领域。比如用来优化出版时间的工具SocialFlow以及为大品牌管理相关消息的工具Mass Relevance等都值得表扬。此外还有一些应用也做得很好，比如用新方法管理Twitter网站趋势实时数据的Klout，以及一些帮助企业管理品牌信息和客户关系的工具等（萨维尔列举了我的HootSuite公司作为例子）。

    换句话说，即便是与LinkedIn分手后，Twitter也仍然在寻找热门的新开发者。而商业应用由于能帮助企业更好地与客户交流，加强Twitter在职场中的角色，因此可能会在Twitter的未来计划中起到更大的作用。

    本文作者Ryan Holmes是社交媒体管理系统HootSuite公司的CEO，他的公司拥有400万名客户，其中包括79家《财富》100强公司。他的日常工作就是管理Facebook、Twitter和全球其它大型社交网络，因此他对社交网络与大企业的交集问题有独特的看法。

    译者：朴成奎

    On the surface, this sounds like "a brilliant, lucrative, slam dunk of a move," to quote Spivack. But it also seems fairly obvious, which makes me think that Twitter's brain trust must have thought of it before. Why this kind of ad-based API compromise wasn't viable in LinkedIn's case isn't exactly clear, though there are clues.

    Twitter has stated that stricter guidelines for API use will be rolled out in the weeks ahead to create a more uniform consumer experience across all apps and eliminate redundancy. The operative term here is consumer. Consumer-focused apps liked LinkedIn, especially those that "reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience" while bringing little new to the table, seem to be on the chopping block.

    But business-focused apps are another story altogether. Twitter's own director of platform Ryan Sarver points out several areas where "ecosystem developers are thriving" in a blog post from last year. Tools that optimize publishing time (SocialFlow) and curate relevant tweets for large brands (Mass Relevance) are singled out for praise. The same goes for apps that harness Twitter's real-time data about web trends in novel ways (Klout), as well as enterprise-focused utilities that help companies find out about their brands and manage customer relationships (Disclosure: Sarver lists HootSuite, my company, as an example.)

    In other words, even after its LinkedIn breakup, Twitter is still in the market for hot new developers. Business utilities, which help companies better engage with customers and cement Twitter's role in the workplace, appear to factor large in future plans. Do I hear wedding bells?

    Ryan Holmes is the CEO of HootSuite, a social media management system with four million users, including 79 of the Fortune 100 companies. In the trenches everyday with Facebook, Twitter and the world's largest social networks, Holmes has a unique view on the intersection of social media and big business.