“Via Nano 33 IoT, display the follower count of a given Twitter account and its current follower status - STABLE, DEC, or INC.
I have a gradually growing Twitter account for my website to showcase my projects and articles. Most of the time, I forget to check if there is a change in the follower count of my Twitter account to discern the account growth chronologically. Thus, I decided to create this apparatus placed on my desk, which displays information of my Twitter account:
current follower count,
current account name and ID,
three preceding follower counts.
First of all, to manage to glean information from Twitter by avoiding any authentification process pertaining to the Twitter API, I chose to use a content delivery network (CDN) - cdn.syndication.twimg - to obtain the number of followers of a selected Twitter account by its screen name. When I managed to get information from Twitter, I programmed a web application in PHP, named Twitter Follower Tracker, running on Raspberry Pi to print a data packet containing:
the follower count,
the account name,
and the account ID.
Then, I used an Arduino Nano 33 IoT to get my Twitter account information and follower count transferred by the PHP web application and display them with a Nokia 5110 Screen.
Finally, I added a COM-09032 analog joystick and two buttons to control the menu options and scroll text.
After completing wiring on a breadboard and testing the code, I designed a PCB (Twitter Follower Tracker) having the Twitter logo carved at its center. It became a stylish and fitting addition to my desk as an efficient apparatus to track the follower count of my account :)
In addition to displaying information, the device:
Notifies the user when there is a change in the follower count - INC or DEC.
Shows monochrome images as a screensaver if selected.”