Over the weekend I had an idea for an easy to create and fun Twitter application. Like various other social mediums I like to build something so I can better understand how that medium works. I also like to ensure that our hosting will work with that medium if someone asks. Reading through the Twitter API it became very apparent that a Magic 8 Ball application would be very easy to build. I sent a tweet to Matt and asked him if he wanted to build it together. Matt agreed and we development began.

How does it work?
The Magic 8 Ball Application allows you to send a yes or no question to @magic_8ball and it will reply back with an answer to your question. Matt and I agreed to make the code open and available for you to see and use it if you wish. You can reuse the Magic 8 Ball Twitter Application script to create your own script. I think it would be easy to modify this script to make a coin toss game and rock-paper-scissors.

Problems with developing on twitter
From the development I would make a few suggestions to Twitter. The 70 replies per hour limit slows down development and will mean that the application will only be able to do 70 replies an hour. Also they limit the API to pull 20 replies. If you had 22 questions the script would only reply to the first 20. Twitter should look at the Facebook development model which they approve scripts which can then increase these limits if approved. I did email twitter to request these levels be increased and as of this post I have not heard back.

Monetizing your twitter application
If your developing an application for twitter there is a limited amount of revenue models. You could sell the link monthly in your applications profile. You could of course sell the application but usually people only buy applications that generate money. You could spam your users but usually that will cause people to stop using it. I think it would be hard to generate some good revenue from a twitter application at this time.

Do you have a twitter application you would like to develop?