Does twitter have an open ID or are these 3rd party apps just really intrusive?

Question

Can we build applications on top of the twitter user base?

Is it just another open id or something more?

I noticed when using twitpic and some MUD type game 14mafia.com that it uses my twitter login (it tweets on your behalf).

If they are using my login/password that's pretty crazy, I mean what kind of security is that?

Anyhow, just want a developers who has expereince to tell me if we can re-use their membership like openid?

Answer 1

Can we build applications on top of the twitter user base?

The Twitter API is described at http://apiwiki.twitter.com/

Is it just another open id or something more?

Twitter is neither an OpenID consumer nor provider.

I noticed when using twitpic and some MUD type game 14mafia.com that it uses my twitter login (it tweets on your behalf).

If they are using my login/password that's pretty crazy, I mean what kind of security is that?

Awful security. Don't give out your password to third party sites. Some just use the password anti-pattern, others will steal your credentials for purposes you don't want.

Twitter supports OAuth today. If a site wants to do things with your Twitter profile, it should use that.

Anyhow, just want a developers who has expereince to tell me if we can re-use their membership like openid?

No, you can't.

Answer 2

Twitter offers both OAuth and simple username/password authentication in its API. Originally they only had the basic authentication API so many early apps were built using it. Later, they added the OAuth support, but since it was easier to use the basic authentication, many twitter clients and apps still use it.

You can tell which one an application is using, because if they are using the simple authentication they will ask for your password. You have to trust them with it in that case. You're right that it's poor security.

Answer 3

I imagine they are using the Twitter API.