Twitter cuts off UberMedia apps

SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter on Friday suspended UberTwitter, and twidroyd applications in a clash with a startup that controls a fifth of the “tweets” at the hot microblogging service.

UberMedia applications cut off from Twitter handled messages “tweeted” from Android, BlackBerry, or iPhone smartphones. Other software is available to “tweet” from those kinds of smartphones.

“We have suspended UberTwitter and twidroyd for violating our policies,” Twitter said in a post at the San Francisco firm’s online help centre.

“Every day, we suspend hundreds of applications that are in violation of our policies.”

Twitter added that it was taking the unusual step of sharing the news because “today’s suspension may affect a larger number of users.”

California-based UberMedia is an Idealab company that has been gobbling up applications people use to synch Twitter messages to various devices.

UberMedia early this month added popular Twitter “client” TweetDeck to Echofon, twidroyd, and UberTwitter in a stable of applications said to control 20 percent of “tweets” fired off on any given day.

UberMedia chief executive Bill Gross described his operation as the leading independent provider of applications for reading and posting to Twitter and other social Internet platforms.

An Accel Ventures led round of funding last week pumped $17.5 million into UberMedia in a move that some thought would spark concern at Twitter that the company might be growing into a competitor.

“Our goal is to enhance the Twitter experience with functionality in our clients and to be the best partner with Twitter in growing and enhancing their ecosystem,” Gross said while announcing the Accel investment.

The funding came with the addition of Accel’s Jim Breyer to the UberMedia board. Breyer also sits on the board of social networking titan Facebook.

The investment made it clear that UberMedia’s plan is to make money from Twitter traffic as Twitter itself grapples with how to cash in on its popularity.

UberMedia said on Friday that it was preparing a response to Twitter suspending some of its applications.