Lee Hogan In today’s scenario, we all are very habitual of using various social media platforms. Social Media has now become a very crucial part of our daily life. Not just it plays a vital role in sharing our personal life socially, it also provides us with loads of information. One famous social media platform that keeps us updated and provides the latest news to us is Twitter.
Nowadays, millions of people consider Twitter to be in social touch with the people and be updated with the latest information from across the world. But in the hustle and bustle of life, we do not have this much time to be active on social media for long hours. Thanks to our technology that has made this work easier for people by providing the bot feature. This article is for you to provide information regarding a Twitter bot and how to create one.
Twitter Bot
We all are well aware of Twitter and its functions but are we aware of bots? Well, before moving on to discussing Twitter bot creation, let us have a brief description of the bot.
A bot is the other name for a web robot that automatically performs all your tasks in your absence. It makes your work easier, simpler, and faster. As you cannot be available on Twitter all the time, this bot will perform all your tasks in your absence that will keep you in touch with social media all the time. Twitter involves various activities like tweeting, retweeting, following other users, and many more. You cannot be active on the platform for performing these activities all the time. Here is when your bot will help you and keep active on Twitter even when you are not.
Making a Twitter bot has become much easier than before as it does not require you to learn to code. You can create it by applying to an account. Let us now know step by step; how to make a Twitter bot.
1. Apply for a developer account:
The first and foremost step for making a Twitter bot is that you need to apply for a developer account, and for that, you need not pay any penny as creating apps on Twitter is free. Just visit developer.twitter.com to begin.
To complete the process, you need to complete various segments as follows:
User Profile: Here, you have to select a user profile for yourself and verify it by providing your email address and phone number.
Account Details: Next, you need to provide the account details, i.e., whether your account is related to an organization or a personal statement.
Use Case Details: Here, you are required to provide a valid reason for creating a developer account for Twitter. You will be asked some questions, and you need to answer them truthfully with full explanations.
Terms of Service: This is the last step in creating a developer account. Here you need to agree with specific terms and conditions, after which you will be asked to verify your account with the email address, and you are finished with the developer account’s creation.
- Create a Twitter App: After you have finished the verification process, you can create your own Twitter App to power your bot. For this, you need to click on the ‘Create an App’ option available on the homepage. Before providing you with the access token and API keys, you have to enter details like App name, App description, website URL, App purpose, and other details. Some of the further details aren’t necessary to provide, so you can skip them at your convenience and move on if you do not wish to.
- Setup a development environment: Further in this step, you need to program and deploy your bot into a development environment such as Python, Node.js or google scripts.
- Link your Twitter App and Development Environment: To make sure your bot works, the development environment and Twitter App must be able to communicate with each other. You have to locate API keys and access tokens that are next to App details. You have to generate an access token secret and an access token. Keep your app’s permission on ‘read and write’ so that your bot can perform the essential functions of Twitter.
Anyone can access your account with the keys, so it is suggested not to post them publically.
1. Program the bot:
This is the most fun element of the whole process. There are some aspects to this; you must be familiar with:
Twitter Search: You are required to enter your commands here.
Action: This is the step where you have to choose what action your bot will take.
Text: You can add some text to the action to increase engagement and provide a personalized experience.
Start and End Time: This feature has to fix your bot function’s start and end time.
There are many actions; once you start working on this, you will get familiar with all of them. After this, it is time to test your bot.
1. Test the bot:
To ensure that your bot runs well and is all set up correctly, you need to run some tests. If your bot completes all the actions as directed, then it works well. Twitter has some strict guidelines regarding bots and automation, so make sure not to program your bot to sensitive content and spam users. If you do so, this may lead to your bot’s shutdown, and even your Twitter account can get revoked.
Conclusion
Twitter bots are considered the best bots amongst the various social media platforms. It is enjoyable to create them according to your preferences and usability. They are of great use apart from the benefit they provide to the business organizations. To program your bot effectively, make sure you follow the steps mentioned above accurately, as they will give you the best guide on how to make a Twitter bot for yourself.