Twitter + Orkut = Twitkut

November 13th, 2008 | Tags: , , , ,
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Twitkut

I am a big fan of Twitter. Unfortunately, almost all of my real life friends are only on Orkut. Most of them haven’t even heard of Twitter. Thats how I came up with the idea of creating something like Twitkut.

I update on Twitter a lot. So, I thought how cool will it be if somehow all my Orkut friends can also recieve frequent updates on my tweets as well as be able to read them from Orkut itself. That means they don’t have to be registered on Twitter to follow me and get updates.

Twitkut displays your recent tweets on your Orkut profile page. Besides, it also shows you which all of your friends are using Twitkut so that you can follow them. It shows you their combined recent tweets too. This way you don’t have to follow them separately on Twitter. You can simply read their tweets every time you visit Orkut.

Here are a couple of screenshots:

It makes use of Google’s OpenSocial API as well as Twitter’s Search API to access the tweets. I made use of OpenSocial’s JavaScript API.

OpenSocial is still pretty nescient, especially if you have seen the Facebook API. I was pretty dissappointed at times with the lack of features in the API. For eg., a chief functionality of my app would have been to update the status of the Orkut user with his/her latest tweet. But, the API didn’t allow it.

Also, to post an update to a user’s activity stream, the owner of the app must visit their profile page or the Twitkut application. This makes it impossible to automatically poll for new tweets and post them to a user’s activity stream. Maximum 2 updates are allowed to a user’s activity stream in a day.

Another feature OpenSocial currently lacks is that there is no way for the developer to keep track of who or how many users are using his application. I feel this should have been one of the first features that should have been implemented in the API, to allow developers to see analysis of their app usage from within Orkut.

There was one more thing that made me cringe. The Orkut sandbox allows using opensocial 0.8 api whereas prod.sandbox.orkut.com as well as orkut.com only allow opensocial 0.7 at this point of time. Nowhere did they mention this loud and clear. So, I ended up making the app using opensocial 0.8. Then I got to know that I had to use opensocial 0.7 if I wanted to submit my app to Orkut ( ofcourse that’s the reason I am developing the app ) and so I had to make some gruesome changes all over again.

On the brighter side, I was very happy with the response at the Orkut Developer Forum. Jason and others helped me along the way and were kind enough to answer all my queries. Without their response, I would have certainly been unable to develop this app. It also cleared some of my concepts regarding caching, etc.

All in all, I am pretty happy with the result. I have had nice feedback from people who have already started using Twitkut.

So, if you use Orkut and you are a Twitter crazy person and want to share your tweets with a wider world, you can add the application by going here.

Update: Follow Twitkut here ->@twitkut
You can also follow me on Twitter -> @ahujaankit

Currently, Twitkut is not visible on Orkut profile pages because of Orkut’s initiative to eliminate phishing attacks in OpenSocial apps.

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  • hey Ankit,

    Can you make an option to use identi.ca instead of twitter? It has a twitter API (http://laconi.ca/trac/wiki/TwitterCompatibleAPI), so you just need to allow one to enter the url or select identi.ca (the laconi.ca software can be installed on any server, so option to enter the url would be nice).

    - Praveen
  • Hi Praveen,

    Thanks for linking me to the identi.ca API. Although, not many people use identi.ca as compared to twitter, I looked at the API and it doesn't seem too inconvenient to add it. I could include an additional option for users to display their identi.ca updates instead of twitter updates.
    I am a little burdened with work these days but in sometime I do plan to come out with a new version of Twitkut. So, hang on! :)
  • Really Great Application.... I was Waiting for this

    With the rising Popularity of Twitter, Twitkut is Surely going to make a big hit. In, fact I was Looking for an for twitter tool like this which will help me to connect with my orkut Friends at Twitter.

    I made a Post about it @ http://realtrix.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-to-sho...>
  • Thanks for this cool app for orkut!
    Orkut was really missing this...
  • impressive! Will take it for a ride...
  • The only application I am using on my profile page at Orkut ... I love it .. But seems suddenly it has stopped updating my activity stream .. I check my profile and the application page , the tweets are there .. Only its not updating the activity feed ...

    Thanks for the great app though ..
  • @Shahab It can only update the activity stream 3 times a day ( another limitation of the Orkut API ) So if it has already updated thrice in a day, it won't update again
  • Just what I was looking for :)
  • Thanks yaar........ its so good......... was searching like this 4 long....... thanks again......
  • Nice discovery .... we Indians love Orkut!

    I was facing this problem too .. but now got the solution :)
  • Hey
    Am using twitkut dude. However, it just doesnt show current updates...instead its showing tweets which i sent months ago! Need some troubleshooting here.
  • I will need your twitter ID and your Orkut profile page link to help you out :) By the way, make sure your updates are not protected and try uninstalling and then reinstalling the application.
  • naveen
    Hello there,
    Cool app. Need to know is it possible to use the Orkut API for a different application not a Orkut APP say like Delicious/fb to display my Orkut Profile on some other APP?
  • thats really nice to hear, an application for orkut using twitter
  • ViX
    how often does it import the tweets?
  • Whenever someone views Twitkut, it gets the tweets and stores them in that particular browser's cache for an hour. So if you visit Twitkut on your computer, you can only see the newer updates after an hour ( unless you empty the browser's cache )

    However, if someone views your profile on some other computer, he will be able to see your latest updates.
  • Hi ankit, it seems like you covered lots of areas regarding to twitkut.. I'll try it out because based on what you had said it seems to be pretty interesting.
  • Hi,
    Sound Interesting............................ : )
  • Wow !
    Thanks for sharing the new app. : )
  • Hi! Thanks for this cool app! :)

    excellent! =)
  • alvaaclay1980
    Another feature OpenSocial currently lacks is that there is no way for the developer to keep track of who or how many users are using his application. I feel this should mocospace.com have been one of the first features that should have been implemented in the API, to allow developers to see analysis of their app usage from within Orkut.
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