Open it up, let it develop, then lock it down strategies almost always result in a very upset and disappointed community of developers. Current case in point: Twitter.

In a Twitter developer forum post over the weekend titled “consistency and ecosystem opportunities,” Ryan Sarver from Twitter’s application development team laid down new Twitter law around client apps. Sarver outlined that developers should not be building to opportunities addressed by Twitter’s own apps and Twitter.com, and warned that those who currently do should make sure they’re in line with Twitter’s terms and conditions (terms and conditions that were subsequently updated the company to reflect Sarver’s message).

Sarver wrote (you can read the full message here): “Developers have told us that they’d like more guidance from us about the best opportunities to build on Twitter. More specifically, developers ask us if they should build client apps that mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience. The answer is no. … If you are an existing developer of client apps, you can continue to serve your user base, but we will be holding you to high standards to ensure you do not violate users’ privacy, that you provide consistency in the user experience, and that you rigorously adhere to all areas of our Terms of Service.”

Twitter has grown its staff, business and Twitter branded apps considerably over the last 18 months, and has made it clear that it intends to provide features and functionalities core to the service itself – slowly squeezing out other services that built to the Twitter API. For example Cambridge-based oneforty, once positioning itself to be the app store for Twitter, recently pivoted to encompass more social media products and tools than just those offered on Twitter.

Computer World outlines the history and milestones leading up to this weekend’s post by Sarver, and speaks to developer reactions. Click the link at the top to read the article in full.