Twitter has officially banned third-party app clients, as revealed by Engadget. The social media giant updated its developer agreement on Thursday to include a new restriction on the use of licensed materials. The new clause, added to the "Restrictions on Use of Licensed Materials" section, states that "use or access the Licensed Materials to create or attempt to create a substitute or similar service or product to the Twitter Applications" is prohibited. Twitter's decision to ban third-party apps has been met with mixed reactions. On one hand, some users have expressed disappointment and frustration at the loss of popular apps such as Twitterrific and Tweetbot. On the other hand, Twitter marketing companies such as Vancouver's Hootsuite have seen this as an opportunity to continue to work with the social media giant. Twitterrific, one of the apps affected by the ban, confirmed the discontinuation of its app on Friday, calling it "the end of an era." The company stated that the "app's sudden and undignified demise is due to an unannounced and undocumented policy change by an increasingly capricious Twitter - a Twitter that we no longer recognize as trustworthy nor want to work with any longer." Hootsuite, on the other hand, has assured its users that it is still able to publish to Twitter with its tool. The company stated that they "can only speak for ourselves, not the other tools. But it's probably because of the agreements we've signed with the network." Overall, the ban on third-party apps is a significant change for Twitter and its users. While some apps have been discontinued, others, like Hootsuite, are still able to work with the social media giant. It remains to be seen how this decision will affect the future of Twitter and its ecosystem of third-party apps. #TwitterBan #ThirdPartyApps #Twitterrific #Hootsuite #SocialMedia