Posted by Earlier this month, Twitter announced that their API would no longer be free for Crowdfire and apps like ours.
They also mentioned on their social account that they’ll be introducing basic and Enterprise plans for us to subscribe to and the deadline mentioned was 29th April 2023.
We immediately started on the documentation and process to apply for it in the first week, but sadly, on 7th April 2023, without prior notice, our API was disrupted by Twitter 😞
It came to us as a shock because as per our understanding, the API changes were going to be effective at the end of the month. We had already submitted the documentation that was required from our end to get more clarity on the enterprise pricing plan and features.
Also, we’ve been working with Twitter’s integration for over a decade now and have always stayed compliant with Twitter’s rules.
In fact, we have always made changes to Crowdfire’s Twitter features as per the changing Twitter policies.
That said, over the weekend, we tried tirelessly to reach Twitter support through whatever means necessary — but received no response.
We also communicated this to you via Twitter and email —
🚨Attention! We're experiencing a disruption in our access to Twitter API, and we know it's affecting other Twitter Apps as well. We've reached out to @Twitter @TwitterDev @TwitterSupport @elonmusk for resolution. We appreciate your patience as we wait for this to be resolved.
— Crowdfire – Social Media Management tool (@Crowdfire) April 9, 2023
Meanwhile, my team tried to fix things and find a workaround too.
We immediately subscribed to a basic $100 plan that was available within our dashboard and was able to support some features. However, if we made those changes live for you, and had we hit the limits, it would lead to more bad than good.
To be able to resolve this for us, we reached out to the team at Twitter from multiple platforms. With all our trials, we were able to connect with them and partly resume a few features too.
So as soon as we had them fix it for us, we informed you —
Update: Scheduling is now up and running on Crowdfire ✨
We're working closely with the Twitter team and we'll share more details regarding other Twitter-related features as soon as we know.
We would like to thank you for your support and understanding during this time. ❤️
— Crowdfire – Social Media Management tool (@Crowdfire) April 11, 2023
In some cases, you needed to re-authenticate your Twitter account and your scheduling and mentions feature were up and running.
At this time, we were still in talks with them to resume all other Twitter-related features on Crowdfire too, and this took a lot longer than usual. The team at Twitter mentioned that with the significant reduction in their manpower — and increase in these requests, processing any requests was taking up more time.
What started working: Scheduling and Mentions
What’s still not working: Analytics, Calendar view, Listening, and Reports.
Meeting with Twitter
We met with Twitter to understand why this happened, and how we can fix things to provide you with all the features we do.
What we learned was that there are only two plans available for businesses right now in the new Twitter era —
1. A basic plan that is priced at $100 per month and is not enough for us to support all the features on Crowdfire.
2. An enterprise plan that is priced at $42000 per month and is not feasible to go ahead with at the moment.
Given that our usage is nowhere near what they are offering for the enterprise plan, and a mid-tier will make the most sense, we’ve requested some more details and clarity on whether there would be a few more in-between plans and the pricing for the same.
We have also shared detailed documentation with Crowdfire’s requirements and are yet to hear from them.
What is next?
At this moment, with the limitations on our API and the deadline being 29th April, We are trying to avoid another disruption, and also give you some time to plan ahead. We understand that you have trusted us with your social media requirements all this time, and due to events being out of our control, we want to make sure that you can take the best decision for yourself.
On our end, we have made a few interim product decisions that have been very difficult for us too 💔
From 29th April 2023, we would not be able to support Twitter features on Crowdfire for Free and Plus plan users.
With the current limitations, we’re able to support some Twitter features for our existing Premium and VIP users.
We understand that this news may not be what you were hoping to hear, and we want to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
Please note: This change is only for Twitter on Crowdfire.
All other features for other social platforms will be working as usual.
Having said that, we’re also in talks with Twitter to bring back the features.
But, as for now, we want to assure you that our team is working tirelessly to bring you amazing features for Instagram and other social media platforms that we know you will absolutely love and will help your brand grow online!
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at hello@crowdfireapp.com.
We are here to help and are always happy to hear from you.
Thank you again for choosing Crowdfire ❤️
We appreciate your support and look forward to continuing to serve you in the future.