New posts in the popular blogging software WordPress can no longer be automatically mirrored or even shared on Twitter due to recent API changes. The WordPress operator Automattic made this public in a blog article. After Twitter under Elon Musk largely abolished free API access and is now charging money for it, it says it was not possible to reach an agreement. Of course you can still share a link to a new blog entry manually on Twitter, but the automatic function no longer works.
API access required for mirroring
The function was previously implemented in the extensive WordPress plugin Jetpack Social. You could either link blog entries in a tweet or mirror them completely on Twitter in several tweets, including the pictures and videos. This only worked thanks to the API access, writes Kristina Plauche from Automattic in the blog entry. It was cut off at the beginning of April, but then reactivated. When Twitter announced new prices for API access, they tried “in good faith” to negotiate new terms. However, no agreement was reached, so the function is switched off.
Twitter has been announcing for months that APIs 1.1 and 2 will no longer be available for free. The social network did not keep to the initially extremely tight schedule, but now the time has come. Individuals are less affected by the changes than the media, social media teams and other services that have integrated Twitter via the interfaces or play out tweets via it, including the sometimes very helpful and entertaining bots. The move by WordPress now shows that the full extent is only slowly becoming apparent. WordPress, for example, forms according to W3Techs the basis of more than 40 percent of all websites.
Automattic now ensures that posts can still be automatically distributed to Tumblr, Facebook and Linkedin. They are also working on connecting the function to Instagram and Mastodon. The Twitter alternative can already be linked particularly closely to a WordPress blog. With the “ActivityPub for WordPress” plugin, the posts can be read, subscribed to and commented on directly in the Mastodon network and thus the entire Fediverse. Automattic bought the tool just a few weeks ago.
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