This was a project I had wanted to do for a long time as it would help me to flex my Python skills after completing the intensive bootcamp focused on JavaScript, TypeScript, Node and React.
The design of this bot is rather simple, with the task of cheering on other Twitter users who are learning to code. It does this by accessing the Twitter POST endpoints for liking and retweeting statuses containing certain keywords. When I first started tweeting at the #100DaysOfCode tag, lots of automated accounts would interact with my post. I marvelled at them, as building one myself felt like a million miles away. So I was excited to possibly provide that inspiration to others, and show it is not so far away as you might imagine.
At first I ran this bot on PythonAnywhere, which is a great service for quickly and easily hosting an automated Python script.
After some time, though, I moved this into GitHub and used a YAML workflow to run regular updates. I also added in functionality to sanitise the posts that were amplified, in response to the high misuse of the platform's most popular tech keywords.
Update:
As of 2023 I have disbaled the workflows and decomissioned the bot. So you will no longer see recent activity.
After analysing the accounts activity, growth and interactions, I determined that the vast majority of connections were with other automated applications. Combined with limited follower growth I concluded that the account was not in fact providing value to users.
I made the decision to disable the scripts so as not to waste server time, and more importantly, energy that could be better spent elsewhere. While it is a challenge to see my work invested into this no longer being used, it is important to always keep the user and value front and centre, and respond to changing conditions and requirements.
- Automated BotProfile Page
- Source CodeGithub
- StackPython, Tweepy, Dotenv, Regex, Twitter API
