Today a forum member posted comments from twitter support after they refused his API application:
Hello,
We apologize for the inconvenience, but we do not allow personal branding of Applications with Traffic Exchange URLs. I should also inform you that all of our external links from tweets are tagged “nofollow,” as such, tweeting from that source will not improve your search index ranking. If you are using that webpage as a landing page while you build a separate application, I recommend changing your APP URL to one that describes your application or organization appropriately, if your application is legitimate we will reconsider your suspension.
Regards,
Brian
API Support
I find these comments somewhat curious, although I do not know what question was asked by the traffic exchange owner their reply is reminiscent of the Stormpay “autosurf” fiasco a few years ago where all traffic exchanges were demonised by association.
An esoteric group of authorities have now tainted an entire industry, a popular one that has existed for a long time, because they don’t like it or perhaps see it as a threat. Google, Twitter, Blogger and sadly even the SEC to name a few.
What is so different between twitter and traffic exchanges? They both encourage people to share ideas and websites, albeit in different ways. Traffic exchanges have not sprung up overnight to make twitters life difficult (not that they could) and have been serving a growing number of customers since the early 90’s. It begs the question why twitter believe they are a legitimate application and a traffic exchange is not?
What does “legitimate” mean, does this mean a traffic exchange is illegal or are they referring to what a traffic exchange maybe used for?
A user can add a link to illegal content in a traffic exchange, but they can do the same on twitter so what’s the difference?
There is one obvious difference, for every succesful traffic exchange their is a proud owner making a profit, something the two owners of twitter have yet to achieve. Each traffic exchange owner has an emotional connetion to their business and consequently does everything in their power to keep it legal. I bet the ratio of passionate owners to users is a lot healthier than twitters!
Tags: traffic exchange, twitter
I received the same exact email today from Twitter. I really am frustrated with the way they treat traffic exchanges. It comes to my attention that pyramid and ponzi schemes are given permission and allowed to create and use apps on Twitter. I guess that tells you something about Twitter.