Today, an unexpected blip in the Twitter API caused some sites to completely crash, leaving many users and site owners scrambling to fix the problem. The root cause of the problem appears to stem from a Twitter API error, with the platform’s CEO Elon Musk publicly blaming the “brittle” nature of the platform.
The Twitter API – short for application programming interface – is the backbone of many third-party services, providing access to an extensive collection of profile data, likes, retweets, and other user statistics. This makes it a powerful tool for many websites and apps, and a vital component for modern web architecture.
Unfortunately, this morning, the Twitter API was down for maintenance, but instead of a planned shutdown lasting just a few minutes, the platform experienced a full outage, lasting more than an hour. This left many people stuck – unable to access their profile data, or even simply post to their account.
CEO of Twitter, Elon Musk, was quick to blame the platform, taking to Twitter (ironically) to voice his frustration with the “brittle” nature of the platform. Although making it clear that Twitter wasn’t directly responsible for the outage, Musk attributed the problem to a “tragic flaw” in its design.
The problem also caused delays in associated services such as Twitter Analytics, which were reliant on the API data to retrieve basic profile analytics. Again, Elon Musk was quick to criticize the platform, stating that “Twitter must do better.”
Since the outage, Twitter has scrambled to fix the API’s problem and ensure that the platform remains stable. However, it has become clear that Twitter needs to take a serious look at its API architecture in order to better protect against these sorts of problems in the future.