Set Up a Twitter Feed

Your MT Showcase apps can include a Twitter feed, with tweets displayed either in a cloud widget or finger menu. You define the search terms for the Twitter feed. For example, you can add a Twitter feed that displays tweets relating to MultiTaction iWall or @multitaction.

To enable Twitter feeds, you must add the Twitter Connection service to your MT Showcase app. This service uses a Twitter app to access Twitter and retrieve tweets for a Twitter feed.

Note

MT Showcase can only retrieve tweets; it cannot post tweets on behalf of the Twitter account being used and it cannot access the Twitter account's personal data.

Setup Overview

The full setup procedure involves these steps:

Create a Twitter app: The Twitter app enables the Twitter Connection service to access Twitter and generate a Twitter feed for your MT Showcase app. You will set up a Twitter app on the Twitter Application Management web site. See Create a Twitter App.
Set up the Twitter Connection service: You need a Twitter Connection service to enable Twitter feeds in your MT Showcase apps. When setting up the service, you will need to add the consumer key and consumer secret from your Twitter app. These are needed to authenticate communication between the Twitter Connection service and Twitter itself when searching for tweets. You will also need to authorize your Twitter app to use a designated 'runtime' Twitter account. The Twitter app needs this account to log in to Twitter when searching for relevant tweets. You set up the service in the MT Showcase Editor. See Set Up the Twitter Connection Service.
Add a Twitter feed to your MT Showcase app. To do this, you will need to add a Twitter Feed widget to a content set. At this stage, you can specify search terms to filter the tweets. You can then assign the content set to a finger menu or cloud widget. See Add a Twitter Feed to Your MT Showcase App.

Create a Twitter App

First, you must create a Twitter app on Twitter's Application Management site. The Twitter Connection service will use this app to access Twitter and generate the Twitter feed displayed in your MT Showcase app.

Note

Find developer documentation for Twitter apps here: https://dev.twitter.com/docs

Twitter Application Management site, Details page. 1 Example app. 2 Consumer key. 3 Keys and Access Tokens tab.

To create a Twitter app:

Go to Twitter's Application Management site: https://apps.twitter.com
Log in to Twitter with your preferred Twitter account. This Twitter account is required only to create the Twitter app. If you are already logged in to Twitter, the Twitter Apps page displays immediately.

Note

If required, you will be able to authorize the Twitter Connection service to use a different runtime Twitter account for when searching for tweets; see Set Up the Twitter Connection Service.
In the Twitter Apps page, click the Create New App button.
In the Create an application page, provide basic app details, including a unique app name plus a Website URL and Callback URL. You must provide valid URLs. For example, http://www.multitaction.com is a valid URL for a Twitter app, but www.multitaction.com is not.

Important

Both URLs are mandatory for the Twitter connection service!
Verify that the Enable Callback Locking check box is not selected.
Other settings are optional. They are not required by the Twitter Connection service.
Agree to the Twitter Development Agreement.
Click the Create your Twitter application button.
After the app has been created, the Details page is displayed. This shows a summary of your app's settings and includes the Consumer Key.

Now you need to set up the Twitter Connection service; continue to the next section.

Set Up the Twitter Connection Service

The Twitter Connection service allows you to add Twitter feeds to your MT Showcase apps, with tweets displayed either in a cloud widget or finger menu. This service uses the Twitter app you created above to retrieve tweets from Twitter.

You set up the Twitter Connection service in the MT Showcase Editor. As part of the service setup, you will need to supply the consumer key and consumer secret for your Twitter app. You will also need to authorize the Twitter app to use a designated runtime Twitter account.

Retrieve the Consumer Key and Secret

Before you set up the Twitter Connection service, you must retrieve the consumer key and consumer secret from your Twitter app. The service will need these details to authenticate communication with Twitter when searching for tweets.

Note

These details are also sometimes called the API Key and API Secret.

Follow these steps:

Go to Twitter's Application Management site: https://apps.twitter.com
Log in to Twitter with your preferred Twitter account. If you are already logged in to Twitter, the Twitter Apps page displays immediately; go to step 3.
In the Twitter Apps page, click the name of your Twitter app.
When the Details page for your Twitter app opens, click the tab for the Keys and Access Tokens page.
When this page opens, make a note of the Consumer Key and the Consumer Secret.

Tip

Copy and paste the key and secret to a temporary location.

Complete the Twitter Connection Service Setup

You can now set up the Twitter Connection service. This involves:

Adding the Twitter Connection service to a service set.
Adding the consumer key and consumer secret.
Authorizing the Twitter app to use a Twitter account.

All three tasks are performed in the Editing a service set screen of the MT Showcase Editor. Full instructions are in the MT Showcase Editor Manual. Registered users can download this manual from https://cornerstone.multitouch.fi/mt-showcase-manuals.

After setting up the service, you can add a Twitter feed to your MT Showcase app; continue to the next section.

Add a Twitter Feed to Your MT Showcase App

After creating your Twitter app and setting up the Twitter Connection service, you can add a Twitter feed to your MT Showcase app. You do this in the Editor. This task involves:

Adding the Twitter Feed widget to a content set. At this stage, you can assign a visible name to the Twitter feed and specify search terms to filter the tweets.
Assigning the content set to a finger menu or cloud widget.

Full instructions are in the MT Showcase Editor Manual. Registered users can download this manual from https://cornerstone.multitouch.fi/mt-showcase-manuals.