Twitter Bots Everything U need to Know

Twitter Bots what they are and how to make them Neil Crosby - twitbot.com What’s Twitter? • You all know already. • But if you don’t… • SMS length mini updates of your life. What’s a Bot? • Automated process that responds to user input. Twitter API • I’ve created an encapsulation in PHP. • This makes things easy. $api = new Twitter($uname, $pword); $messages = $api->directMessages->direct_messages(); $api->status->update( ”tweet tweet" ); $followers = $api->user->followers(); Examples of Twitter Bots RSS Channel Werewolf Web Service “Friendly” RSS Bot • Tell it to watch an RSS feed. • Whenever the feed is updated, it tweets. E.g. TenWordReview, ttwr Channel Bot • Bot echos any direct messages out to the public timeline. • Only people following the bot see these messages. • Thus, we achieve channels in Twitter. • E.g. yahoofood Werewolf Bot • Written for yesterday • “d werebot wwwhs cbetta fatbusinessman mseckington cazm cubicgarden ginader niqui phae aral SteveMarshall cackhanded” • werewolf, healer, seer • Direct messages each player to tell them what they are. No cards required. • E.g. werebot Web Service Bot • More complicated (but still not very). – Takes input from user. – Passes input to web service. – Direct messages user with result of web service call. • No working example yet (ttwr soon). “Friendly” Bot • Keeps track of who’s following him and then friends them. • Vital for easy management of channel, werewolf and web service bots. • Currently unimplemented (oh noes). Where’s the Automated? Cron job! Here’s the Code! Rettribution • • • • • • • • • • • http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcharti/2233111820/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/ferricide/1789375804/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/ezu/277341190/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/19516393@N00/308200734/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidex/2091970568/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/striatic/1276092/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/stinkypeter/157437582/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/kamil/711847556/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonpiesformisfits/263550936/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/scazzophoto/40552349/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/nez/378349478/