Much has been written over the last several months about the changes being made to how Twitter works with third party developers (like StockTwits).

Effective March 1, 2013, StockTwits users will no longer be able to post to their StockTwits accounts via Twitter by including a $TICKER or $$ in the message. The only way to contribute to the StockTwits streams will be by posting directly from StockTwits or through one of our API partner integrations. This change is our choice as we do not feel we can follow Twitter’s new rules and continue to create the experience we want for all of our users.

This change will only impact sharing to StockTwits from Twitter.  It will not impact the ability to send messages posted on StockTwits to a linked Twitter account (or your linked Facebook and LinkedIn accounts). If you share an idea on StockTwits and want to also send it to your Twitter followers, you can check the Twitter bird icon just below the message composition window.

For most people there will be no impact from this change. Over 75% of the messages on StockTwits today are contributed directly from StockTwits or via integrations with our API from other financial applications and web sites. We know this feature is a convenience that a small group of our members make use of, however as both StockTwits and Twitter evolve we believe that continued support will severely impact the user experience we are able to provide on StockTwits – based on Twitter’s developer rules.  We want to ensure all of our resources are focused squarely on continuing to make StockTwits the most valuable platform for socially powered conversations about markets and investing for our members.

If you make use of this feature to get content into your StockTwits stream (or even if you don’t) we have a number of tools to help you incorporate posting directly to StockTwits into your workflow in the simplest ways possible.

StockTwits Website – You can use the StockTwits website in a tab on your browser or use our Pop Out Stream feature to easily follow other investors and stocks and post your market related ideas and insight to StockTwits (and Twitter).

Mobile Apps – We have apps for both iPhone and Android that you can install on your phone to easily share and consume StockTwits wherever you are

Browser Plugins  – For sharing ideas and especially links while browsing, you should check out the StockTwits Google Chrome Browser Extension and the StockTwits Firefox Browser Extension

Hootsuite – To share directly to StockTwits from Hootsuite you can find out more here and/or access the StockTwits App in the Hootsuite App Directory.

In addition, we are excited about the many new ways you can contribute content to StockTwits via our recently expanded API and Developer programs. Financial applications such as YCharts, Estimize, ChartIQ, and TradingView and more have made it easy to distribute your ideas and insights directly to StockTwits from wherever you do your analysis – taking advantage of your financially focused StockTwits social graph and the growing group of partners who distribute the streams created by those ideas, insights and information. Dozens of other developers are creating applications using our API to create additional tools to make it simple to post to your StockTwits account.

If you have any questions about these upcoming changes, particularly if you regularly use this feature and would like assistance creating alternatives for your personal workflows for contributing, please email us at support at stocktwits.com or contact any member of the StockTwits team. Nothing will change until March 1, 2013.