Twitter improves customer engagements through Account Activity API

Dec 20, 2017

Back in April Twitter announced the Account Activity API in beta and added new features to facilitate customer engagements in Direct Messages.

Today, the microblogging platform has realized the vision they outlined in the blog posts and in their public platform roadmap by allowing developers to get all activities related to an account in real time through the Account Activity API.

Twitter is releasing the enterprise version of the Account Activity API, which is designed for those who need data for a large number of accounts, multiple webhook URLs, reliability features such as retries, or managed support.

The company says it is also opening up an additional beta for the standard version that delivers all activities for up to 35 accounts.

“Starting on January 15th, we will also be delivering typing indicators and read receipts for Direct Messages as activities in the Account Activity API to enable the creation of more natural conversational experiences.”

New Direct Message features are now generally available

In addition to enabling better ways to get data, Twitter is also taking the beta label off of many of the Direct Messages features used to create responses and more engaging experiences. Over the past year, brands like Samsung, MTV, TBS, Wendy’s, and Patrón have learned how powerful these features can be to create successful personalized marketing campaigns with chatbots. Other brands like Tesco and Evernote are using these features to provide fast and simple customer service.

Developers can now build their solutions knowing the following features are fully functional and supported

Quick replies

Welcome messages

Buttons on messages

Custom profiles

Customer Feedback Cards

Additionally, welcome messages are now nameable and editable. This will help businesses find and use welcome messages when creating Direct Message Cards, and keep welcome messages relevant as a campaign progresses.

Developers can now also use read receipts and typing indicators to make the conversation feel more natural and alive. These can help people know that an agent has read their message or that a chatbot is responding, for example.

Retiring beta and legacy services

Some less-used features of the Direct Message beta will not become generally available and will no longer be functional from February 15, 2018. These features are,

Location quick replies and location cards

Text Input quick replies

Additionally, some of Twitter’s beta customer support features including support indicators, response hours, and the prominent message button on profiles, will no longer be shown in the Twitter app after January 2018.

As Twitter outlined in April, User Streams and Site Streams, along with the legacy Direct Message endpoints, will be replaced by improved products such as Account Activity API.

“We are providing notice to all Twitter developers that on Tuesday June 19, 2018 we are retiring the following services and endpoints”

User Streams

Site Streams

GET direct_messages

GET direct_messages/sent

GET direct_messages/show

POST direct_messages/destroy

The Account Activity API offers a faster and more streamlined way to access data, and is more reliable and scalable than User Streams, Site Streams, or the standard REST endpoints. Developers currently using these legacy services should review the Account Activity API migration guide.

A note to participants in the Account Activity API beta: the current endpoints used to connect will be changing in order to support the upcoming launch; please refer to Twitter’s API reference documentation for more information.

The GET direct_message/show, /sent, and /list endpoints are being replaced by new GET direct_messages/events/show and GET direct_messages/events/listendpoints, that combine sent and received messages into one service, and provides the ability to access all Direct Messages sent and received in the past 30 days.

A new DELETE direct_messages/events/destroy endpoint, matching the new endpoint structure, is also available for deleting Direct Messages. These new endpoints allow developers to retrieve data with the same new payload elements as the Account Activity API. Developers using these services currently should review the Direct Message endpoints migration guide.

Getting started

“Since November 2016 we’ve been iteratively releasing new functionality to build better customer engagement experiences on Twitter. Combining new features like welcome messages, quick replies, buttons on messages, and custom profiles with our existing functionality enables new and unique marketing and customer service applications to be created.”

Developers looking for beta access to the Account Activity API can apply for access through Twitter’s new developer application process. In the use case details section provide your app ID and a detailed description of what you’re building including your need for Account Activity API.

Developers who need access to subscriptions for more than 35 user subscriptions, reliability features, multiple webhook connections, or managed support should apply for enterprise level access.

To make it easy to get started and to understand how to build on the platform, Twitter is releasing a playbook which provides step-by-step instructions and code to explain how to utilize all features of the Direct Message platform. Developers getting started, or looking to add new features to an existing experience, can learn to do so with the Building a Customer Engagement Application on Twitter playbook.