When users set up a brand new WordPress-powered website, they have long been greeted by a default, introductory post simply titled “Hello world!”
But, now it’s time for WordPress to say a farewell. Specifically, goodbye to Twitter.
WordPress has just become the latest major platform or organization to cut its Twitter integrations due to Elon Musk’s brand new high-priced API subscription plans.
Under Musk, Twitter has its free API offerings to developers looking to build Twitter-based apps or integrations. In its place, the company announced exorbitantly-priced paid Enterprise subscription tiers, which start at , earlier this year.
According to a statement released by WordPress, the platform is removing Twitter from JetPack, an official plugin run by WordPress and its parent company, Automattic. Among its many security and marketing offerings, JetPack Social provides users with the ability to automatically share content directly to an array of social media platforms from their WordPress sites.
WordPress is clear in its statement, titled “,” that Twitter’s removal from JetPack is due to the API price hike.
“Twitter decided, on short notice, to dramatically change the terms and pricing of the Twitter API,” said Automattic in a statement. “We have attempted to work with Twitter in good faith to negotiate new terms, but we have not been able to reach an agreement. As a result, the Twitter connection on Jetpack Social will cease to work, and your blog posts will no longer be auto-shared to Twitter.”
The company is clear that this will only affect Twitter. Automattic states that WordPress users will still be able to utilize JetPack’s social features as they did before with platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Tumblr. In addition, the company stated that its planning on adding Instagram and decentralized Twitter competitor Mastodon to JetPack Social in the “near future.”
In removing Twitter, WordPress joins the ranks of other major companies to drop Twitter in recent weeks. Microsoft, recently removed Twitter from its service and gaming console and , a popular customer service platform, dropped the Musk-owned platform from its tools as well.
Losing WordPress is a massive blow to Twitter. Here’s why.
WordPress is the most content management system on the internet. Roughly 43 percent of the entire web is powered by WordPress. That’s hundreds of millions of websites, blogs, and ecommerce sites.
JetPack is a free security, performance, and marketing plugin provided by WordPress. There are also paid subscription plans for premium features. It’s unclear exactly how many WordPress websites are using JetPack. Mashable has reached out to Automattic for more information and will update this piece when we hear back.
However, JetPack is on the official WordPress plugin directory which shows that there are more than 5 million active JetPack installations on WordPress-based websites. According to the directory, there are less than a dozen plugins with that many active installations. It should also be noted that the “5+ million” active installation label on JetPack is the highest-numbered labeling WordPress provides in the directory, so the actual number of active installations could likely be much higher.
Twitter’s API moves have befuddled developers, both big and small. Many indie developers were their small Twitter-based apps over the past month as Twitter suspended developers from their API platform in preparation for the switch to the paid enterprise plans. Even popular Twitter clients like Tweetbot and Twitterific were from Twitter’s API without notice. Both are now shut down.
Public service accounts have not fared any better. Public transit accounts like the , which runs the New York City subway system, and public safety services, like the , have been affected by Twitter’s API changes. Both have announced that they could no longer provide up-to-the-minute alerts on the platform.
