By Erika Icon

YNOT – Twitter application developers are all aflutter after the micro-blogging platform changed the rules about who may use its application programming interface and what kinds of apps they may create.

Rumored to be in the works for about a year, the changes severely limit the use of the Twitter API. The new rules appear to be evidence that Twitter has been too successful for its own good. Allowing the more than 1 million extant apps to connect with the service could cost Twitter millions of dollars annually in bandwidth and engineering fees, the company indicated.

Therefore, Twitter plans to begin evicting less-popular apps that duplicate others and apps that violate any of its terms or don’t update their software to keep pace with Twitter’s frequent API updates. In addition, the company now requires developers to be authenticated before using the platform. Twitter engineer Michael Sippey said the authentication process is designed to “prevent malicious use of the Twitter API and gain an understanding of what types of applications” represent the most helpful interfaces.

Twitter also now limits the access of developers who sell Twitter apps. Ironically, some of the most popular commercial apps improve the social network’s function and attract more Twitter users.

The company has given developers six months to bring their products into strict compliance with the latest API version and the new terms of service.

App developers are fuming about Twitter’s new rigidity and what they view as an enormous potential for arbitrary enforcement. Some have threatened to sever all ties with the company and support other platforms.

Box.com’s CEO Aaron Levi summed up what seems to be the consensus: “Twitter’s API has more rules than North Korea.”