Beginners Guide - How to apply for a Twitter Developer account

Twitter is one of the biggest social networks in the world, used by millions of users worldwide, who create around half a billion tweets per day!

Twitter API provides companies, developers, and users with programmatic access to Twitter public data which users have agreed to share with the world.

For newbies, think of an API as a 'middleman service' which acts as an intermediary between your code and Twitter's Database.

Use Cases:

One can use the Twitter API for enhancing their business, advertising or simply exploring the API.

Some use cases are

• Data Analytics
• Making a twitter bot for automated replies
• Publishing and Curating
• Advertisement campaign

Detailed information about the Twitter API and use cases here

For getting a Developer account, follow these steps -

Create an account on Twitter

Go to Twitter and log in or sign up for an account which you would use for development.

It is recommended to create a separate account for your twitter application. Especially if you are applying for enhancing your business, for creating a bot or a web-hosted app.

Apply for access

• Go to developers.twitter.com and click on Apply
  

• On the next page, click on Apply for a Developer account
  

Specify the type of application

In the next step, you will have to enter the purpose of your twitter developer account

The first category is Professional which is generally used by business teams to enhance their business process.

The other 3 categories are Hobbyist, Student and Other which are for Individual developer account

Categories of Developer accounts

Individual dev account vs Team dev account

Decide which category your account falls into, and then select the appropriate one.

If you chose a team developer account, which is for professionals, then you will have to specify your organization's details as seen in the above image.

Specify Intended use

In this step, you have to specify the use case for your application.

Be as specific as you can while specifying your intended use of the Twitter API

The more specific you are, the better are your chances of getting approval.

IMPORTANT❗ READ ALL THE guidelines before applying

Make sure you have read the Developer Agreement and Policy, Automation rules and The Twitter Rules thoroughly before applying.

It consists of the DOs and DON'Ts of how to use the Twitter API.

It's a pain in the neck to read the entire thing, so I have summarized it for you.

Summary

• Reverse Engineering - Don't try to reverse engineer the Twitter API. Do not try to sell, lease, distribute, or provide access to any licensed material to a third-party.

• Security - Never give away your account's API keys (The ones which you generate after creating an app)

• Rate limits - Don't call the Twitter API endpoints beyond the specified rate limits. In short, don't spam. The rate limits of individual endpoints can be found in Twitter API reference.

• Location Data - This data can only be used to identify the tagged location of Twitter content like tweets, retweets, DMs, and more.

• Use of Twitter Marks - Don't use the Twitter Logo for this account

• Automation Guidelines - Automated liking, automated bulk following, and automated adding to lists or collections are discouraged.

⚠️ Failing to meet these conditions will cause your application to be rejected

Review, confirm the application, and wait!

⚠️ Note: Once you submit your application, it cannot be edited. So make sure you have reviewed it properly.

Also, take a screenshot of the 'review application' page, so that you can view it later.

It usually takes a day or two, or sometimes more, for your application to be reviewed by Twitter.

After you receive the E-mail:

Twitter can send you three types of emails -

• ✅ Approved developer account
• ❌ Application rejected
• 🔶 Review - They will ask you to review your application since it violates one or more sections of their policies.

In the third case, you will have to read which parts of the developer policies are being violated, amend your application so that it complies with those policies, and submit it by replying to the same email.

The screenshot of the 'review application' page which you took will come in handy over here since you can't view it on the website again.

What next?

If your application gets approved, Congratulations! 😀 🎉 You can now develop apps, improve your skills, and showcase your projects done using the Twitter API.

If it gets rejected - Hard luck! 🙁 Twitter doesn't specify why they rejected an application.

That's it. All the best with your application!
And Happy Coding!

BTW, This is my first article on the Dev Community. 🎉
Please let me know your thoughts in the comments 😇