This repo will help you get started on the GM Twitter Bot Challenge. You'll have approximately one week to create a public Twitter bot that users can interact with and speak to.
Bots will be judged primarily by their creativity and complexity. Use your imagination and feel free to write much more code than the templates provide, or even start from scratch in another language. For a couple of ground rules, make sure your bot does not:
- post anything that could reasonably be considered inappropriate
- break any of Twitter's rules, including the content rules and developer policies
- does not attempt or claim to represent General Motors
To access the Twitter API, you'll need to apply for a developer account if you haven't already. It's recommended you do this using the account you plan to run the bot on.
Filling out the application is straightforward - you'll be asked some details about yourself and how you're planning to use the API. Twitter has gotten stricter with access recently to stop malicious use of the API, so you'll want to be as detailed and honest as possible to make sure you get approved. This may be a good time to catch up on Twitter's developer policies, particularly restricted use cases and the automation rules.
Once you've been approved, create a new standalone app. Give it a name, then grab your keys and tokens on the next page (these are your "consumer keys"). Save or write them down somewhere safe - anyone who has those keys could take control of your account.
Next, you'll want to edit your app's settings. Change the app permissions to "Read and Write" so you can post Tweets.
Now to go the "keys and tokens" tab for your app, and under "Authentication Tokens" find "Access Token and Secret" and click "Generate." Save these in a secure place like your other keys.
This will allow you to run your bot under your developer account's handle. If you want to run the bot under another handle, you can check out the 3-legged OAuth flow, but that won't be necessary for this competition.
This repo includes two templates you can use to implement your bot: one in Python and one in Java. Both contain code for an example bot that responds "Hello!" when you mention it and say "hi" or "hello." You can use this code as a jumping off point for your bot. Both directories also include a README that walks through the code and includes helpful links.
If it's taking a while to get approved for API access, you can implement your bot using your preferred language's built-in input and output methods, then simply drop your code into either of the templates once you gain access.
To host the bot, you can just run it on your local machine and we'll set up a time with you where it can be live for us to judge. Bonus points if you can deploy it to the cloud using a service like Heroku, PythonAnywhere, or one of IU's internal platforms.
If you run into any technical issues, feel free to reach out to christian[dot]ferguson[at]gm[dot]com or connie[dot]michalopoulos[at]gm[dot]com for help.
To submit your bot, fill out the following Google Form:
https://forms.gle/oEhLjDXjnQtUW8Za7
Include your bot's Twitter handle, a link to a GitHub repository with your code, and a brief description of what your bot can do. The soft deadline for submissions is Friday, October 22nd.