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Twitter offers safe harbor to more app makers

Twitter gave its official blessing to nine new companies. Shoutlet, Adobe Social, Percolate, and others can keep selling their Twitter services without fear of being shut down.

Jennifer Van Grove Former Senior Writer / News
Jennifer Van Grove covered the social beat for CNET. She loves Boo the dog, CrossFit, and eating vegan. Her jokes are often in poor taste, but her articles are not.
Jennifer Van Grove
2 min read

A collection of Twitter service providers will sleep tighter tonight. The information network announced that it has added nine new third-party application makers to its Certified Products Program, a safe list that protects companies from Twitter retribution.

Twitter launched its Certified Products Program in August with the expressed intention of connecting business users with Twitter-approved companies offering engagement, analytics, and data products. The secondary purpose of the program is to provide these third-party companies and their clients with the assurance that Twitter will not attempt to shut them down.

Last year, the information network came under fire for tightening the leash on its app ecosystem and handicapping beloved developer-made applications that replicated its tweet stream. Confusion ensued and many wondered which apps Twitter would cripple next.

Shoutlet, Spredfast, Sprout Social, Adobe Social, Percolate, Rallyverse, Sysomos, Simply Measured, and Visible Technologies have all passed the test, and, as of today, are all a part of Twitter's ballooning nice list. The companies offer a range of services including account management, analysis, and help with engagement.

Not surprisingly, PeopleBrowsr missed the cut. The social media analytics service and developer of Kred is in litigation with the information network. In a last-ditch effort late last year, PeopleBrowsr won a temporary restraining order to maintain access to Twitter's firehose of data. CEO Jodee Rich did not immediately return a request for comment.

Twitter also announced today that it has hired Zach Hofer-Shall to manage its Certified Products Program.