Standard v1.1 compared to Twitter API v2

If you have been working with the standard v1.1 GET users/show and GET users/lookup, the goal of this guide is to help you understand the similarities and differences between the standard and Twitter API v2 users lookup endpoints.

• Similarities
  • OAuth 1.0a User Context
  • Users per request limits
• Differences
  • Endpoint URLs
  • App and Project requirements
  • Response data format
  • Request parameters

Similarities

OAuth 1.0a User Context authentication method

The standard endpoint supports OAuth 1.0a User Context, while the new Twitter API v2 users lookup endpoints supports both OAuth 1.0a User Context and OAuth 2.0 Bearer Token. Therefore, if you were previously using one of the standard v1.1 users lookup endpoints, you can continue using the same authentication method if you migrate to the Twitter API v2 version. 

Depending on your authentication library/package of choice, Bearer Token authentication is probably the easiest way to get started and can be set with a simple request header. To learn how to generate a Bearer Token, see this OAuth 2.0 Bearer Token guide. 

Users per request limits

The standard v1.1 GET users/lookup endpoint allows you to specify 100 users per request. This also goes for the GET /users and GET /users/by endpoints. To specify a full 100 users, you will need to pass the ids (GET /users) parameter or the username (GET /users/by) parameter as a query parameter, and include the list of user IDs/usernames in a comma-separated list. 
 

Differences

Endpoint URLs

• Standard v1.1 endpoints:
  • https://api.twitter.com/1.1/users/show (single-ID or username lookup)
  • https://api.twitter.com/1.1/users/lookup (multi-ID or username lookup)
• Twitter API v2 endpoint:
  • https://api.twitter.com/2/users (multi-ID lookup)
  • https://api.twitter.com/2/users/:id (single-ID lookup)
  • https://api.twitter.com/2/users/by (multi-username lookup)
  • https://api.twitter.com/2/users/by/username/:username (single-username lookup)

App and Project requirements

The Twitter API v2 endpoints require that you use credentials from a developer App that is associated to a Project when authenticating your requests. All Twitter API v1.1 endpoints can use credentials from standalone Apps or Apps associated with a project. 

Response data format

One of the biggest differences between standard v1.1 and Twitter API v2 endpoint versions is how you select which fields return in your payload.

For the standard endpoints, you receive many of the response fields by default, and then have the option to use parameters to identify which fields or sets of fields should return in the payload.

The Twitter API v2 version only delivers the user id , name, and username fields by default. To request any additional fields or objects, you wil need to use the fields and expansions parameters. Any user fields that you request from this endpoint will return in the primary user object. Any expanded Tweet object and fields will return in an includes object within your response. You can then match any expanded objects back to the user object by matching the IDs located in both the user and the expanded Tweet object. 

We encourage you to read more about these new parameters in their respective guides, or by reading our guide on how to use fields and expansions. 

We have also put together a data format migration guide which can help you map standard v1.1 fields to the newer v2 fields. This guide will also provide you the specific expansion and field parameter that you will need to pass with your v2 request to return specific fields. 
 

In addition to the changes in how you request certain fields, Twitter API v2 is also introducing new JSON designs for the objects returned by the APIs, including Tweet and user objects.

• At the JSON root level, the standard endpoints return Tweet objects in a statuses array, while Twitter API v2 returns a data array. 
• Instead of referring to Retweeted and Quoted "statuses", Twitter API v2 JSON refers to Retweeted and Quoted Tweets. Many legacy and deprecated fields, such as contributors and user.translator_type are being removed. 
• Instead of using both favorites (in Tweet object) and favourites (in user object), Twitter API v2 uses the term like. 
• Twitter is adopting the convention that JSON values with no value (for example, null) are not written to the payload. Tweet and user attributes are only included if they have a non-null values. 
   

We also introduced a new set of fields to the Tweet object including the following:

• A conversation_id field
• Two new annotations fields, including context and entities
• Several new metrics fields 
• A new reply_setting field, which shows you who can reply to a given Tweet

Request parameters

The following standard v1.1 request parameters have equivalents in Twitter API v2:

There are also a set of standard users lookup request parameters not supported in Twitter API v2: