2

I just need to retrieve a public user feed, but some aspects of Twitter's documentation are terrible (unless someone else knows of a "What you can do with the API" page). Do I need to use OAuth for something as simple as that? Does registering an application with Twitter make it public in any way? (I would expect not, but the "Application Name" must be unique, which makes me worry.)

theazureshadow
  • 9,499
  • 5
  • 33
  • 48

1 Answers1

3

Using Twitter API v1 you do not need OAuth to retrieve public user_timelines. OAuth could be useful for an increased rate limit however.

In Twitter API v1.1 authentication with OAuth is required for all API requests.

abraham
  • 46,583
  • 10
  • 100
  • 152
  • 1
    I guess I was looking for a link or explanation of how to do it -- I should have been clearer. When I directly access an api method, such as http://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.xml?screenname=lukew, it gives me an error: "This method requires authentication." – theazureshadow Jun 02 '11 at 06:35
  • 3
    @theazure Your request parameter is incorrect: `screenname` should be `screen_name`. Try http://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.xml?screen_name=lukew. The statuses/user_timeline request does not require authentication. – arcain Jun 02 '11 at 07:28
  • Oh, oops! I caught that one other place. Thanks! – theazureshadow Jun 02 '11 at 19:25
  • Is this answer still valid after Twitter's announcements about deprecating and turning off certain endpoints for un-authenticated users? – Chris C. Nov 22 '12 at 22:11
  • Updated answer to include API v1.1 – abraham Nov 24 '12 at 02:10