367: ‘Slow-Moving Hurricane’, With Craig Hockenberry

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: The episode centers on Twitter’s sudden suspension of third-party clients, especially Tweetbot and Twitterrific, and Craig Hockenberry’s retrospective on Twitter’s early, creative era versus its present turmoil under Elon Musk. The discussion also broadens into the value of open platforms like Mastodon, the economics and ethics of platform control, and a separate long-form debate about whether touchscreen Macs make sense.

Main Topics: Twitter kills third-party clients (Priority: 5/5): The speakers unpack how Twitter revoked OAuth access for apps like Tweetbot and Twitterrific, effectively shutting down major third-party clients without notice or explanation. Why Twitter clients mattered (Priority: 5/5): Hockenberry reflects on Twitter as a UI playground: early Twitter was simple, experimental, and shaped by third-party innovation such as mentions, hashtags, pull-to-refresh, and richer mobile experiences. Elon Musk, trust, and platform governance (Priority: 5/5): The conversation frames Musk as attention-seeking and erratic, arguing that his actions damaged trust with developers, users, and advertisers, and that Twitter’s behavior was disrespectful and unprofessional. Mastodon and the open social web (Priority: 4/5): The speakers argue Mastodon benefited from the Twitter exodus and may be better suited to the open, non-algorithmic, user-controlled social experience they want. The economics of independent software (Priority: 4/5): They discuss how small, indie companies can make beloved products without needing to become giant businesses, and why being small can be a virtue rather than a limitation. Touchscreen Macs and Apple’s design philosophy (Priority: 3/5): A lengthy side discussion explores whether Apple should add touch to MacBooks, weighing ergonomics, UI density, and Apple’s tendency to add features in an integrated, carefully designed way.

Key Arguments: Twitter’s shutdown of third-party clients was not just a product decision but a breach of trust; the company gave no warning and no public explanation. Third-party Twitter clients were often better experiences than the official app because they explored the UI as a design space and optimized for how people actually used Twitter. Twitter’s early growth was driven by experiments from users and developers, not by a fully formed product plan; hashtags, mentions, reply chains, and pull-to-refresh all emerged from that ecosystem. Musk’s focus on attention and unpredictability makes him bad for platform stewardship; similar behavior already hurt Tesla’s reputation and stock. Mastodon is attractive because it is open, non-algorithmic, and less engagement-driven, which makes it feel more like early Twitter. Apple could add touch to Macs, but doing it well would require careful design changes; simple “just add touch” approaches would clash with macOS’s information-dense, pointer-first interface.

Data Points: Twitterific history: 16 years - Hockenberry notes the blog post marking the shutdown comes 16 years after early Twitterific work. Twitter character limit: 140 characters - Described as a constraint shaped by SMS’s 160-character limit, leaving room for metadata. SMS character limit: 160 characters - Used as the basis for Twitter’s original 140-character tweet limit. Acquisition price for Twitter: $44 billion - Referenced as the amount Elon Musk paid to buy Twitter. Tesla stock impact period: last 3 months - The speakers say Tesla stock fell sharply over roughly the last three months during Musk’s Twitter ownership period. Apple touchscreen MacBook timeline: 2025 at the earliest - Referenced via Mark Gurman’s report that touchscreen Macs are still years away. Touch target size on original iPhone: 44 pixels - Used as an example of Apple designing for finger-sized interaction. Catalyst Mac app scaling: 77% - Mentioned as the default shrink factor for many iPad apps running on Mac. Mastodon user adoption period: 2018 - Hockenberry says he signed up during prior Twitter-related turmoil in 2018. Twitter bio/attribution issue: posted from Twitterific on iOS removed - Used to illustrate Musk’s dislike of third-party client attribution.

Pivotal Quotes: "It is their call to make. We've all been dreading this for years that they would say, Hey, we're going to, you know, end of life for third party clients." — Craig Hockenberry: On Twitter’s right to shut down third-party apps, while criticizing the lack of notice and communication. "It's like somebody breaking up with a significant other, not by saying I break up with you, but just by never returning their calls." — Craig Hockenberry: Describing Twitter’s silent suspension of developer access as disrespectful and cowardly. "I think the, you know, the best thing you can do is just kind of ignore them." — Craig Hockenberry: On Elon Musk and Donald Trump thriving on attention and narcissistic publicity.

Implications: The shutdown accelerates developer migration away from Twitter and toward open alternatives like Mastodon, while reinforcing concerns about platform dependency, trust, and centralized control over digital products.