retweeters.md

Problem

For endpoint /statuses/retweeters/ids.json, there is no way to page through ids returned by API. No combination of setting cursor or count parameters has any effect on return value of previous_cursor, next_cursor, etc. Documentation is here:

https://dev.twitter.com/rest/reference/get/statuses/retweeters/ids

Furthermore, although count parameter is honored, is not documented.

Info

Example tweet is here: https://twitter.com/jack/statuses/397 (I thought since this is quite old, tweeters may have deleted/suspended accounts such to bring the count < 100, so this tweet was used as well https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/757763701101490176 with > 540K retweeters.)

System setup:

Python 3.5.1
pyenv 20160629-19-ga761ff6
pip 8.1.2 from /home/jeremy/.pyenv/versions/3.5.1/envs/python-twitter-3.5.1/lib/python3.5/site-packages (python 3.5)
requests.__version__ == 2.10.0

No query string

GET url: https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/retweeters/ids.json?id=397

b'{"ids":[2766771192,1018421041,65555663,2883171442,2495447557,2329303118,400773576,2951536813,2354858683,2805218958,2921074850,717950795,2298780054,2956277463,2932914681,594152187,2149827450,1280652686,255149618,2253500994,1154184554,1028143183,2959583048,2812607934,2950529331,2228419408,2209549874,506047908,1321986698,1678837003,1391372328,876733711,2810075863,1092858866,1190783960,1462374198,2601544682,2904210737,2974097771,2954764264,2174326285,2579330610,2312150604,2935300107,2880845950,2491777656,2904960699,2504816257,2792158449,2966376340,2923958981,487115006,1155588638,2937463192,1701275521,375847468,87824707,2831786788,738630438,2920496680,1260643814,542483377,173699661],"next_cursor":0,"next_cursor_str":"0","previous_cursor":0,"previous_cursor_str":"0"}'

Setting cursor=-1 has no effect

GET url: https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/retweeters/ids.json?id=397&cursor=-1

b'{"ids":[2766771192,1018421041,65555663,2883171442,2495447557,2329303118,400773576,2951536813,2354858683,2805218958,2921074850,717950795,2298780054,2956277463,2932914681,594152187,2149827450,1280652686,255149618,2253500994,1154184554,1028143183,2959583048,2812607934,2950529331,2228419408,2209549874,506047908,1321986698,1678837003,1391372328,876733711,2810075863,1092858866,1190783960,1462374198,2601544682,2904210737,2974097771,2954764264,2174326285,2579330610,2312150604,2935300107,2880845950,2491777656,2904960699,2504816257,2792158449,2966376340,2923958981,487115006,1155588638,2937463192,1701275521,375847468,87824707,2831786788,738630438,2920496680,1260643814,542483377,173699661],"next_cursor":0,"next_cursor_str":"0","previous_cursor":0,"previous_cursor_str":"0"}'

Setting count < [# retweeters] has no effect

GET url: https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/retweeters/ids.json?id=397&count=5

b'{"ids":[2766771192,1018421041,65555663,2883171442,2495447557],"next_cursor":0,"next_cursor_str":"0","previous_cursor":0,"previous_cursor_str":"0"}'

Setting count to False has no effect.

GET url: https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/retweeters/ids.json?id=397&count=False

b'{"ids":[2766771192,1018421041,65555663,2883171442,2495447557,2329303118,400773576,2951536813,2354858683,2805218958,2921074850,717950795,2298780054,2956277463,2932914681,594152187,2149827450,1280652686,255149618,2253500994,1154184554,1028143183,2959583048,2812607934,2950529331,2228419408,2209549874,506047908,1321986698,1678837003,1391372328,876733711,2810075863,1092858866,1190783960,1462374198,2601544682,2904210737,2974097771,2954764264,2174326285,2579330610,2312150604,2935300107,2880845950,2491777656,2904960699,2504816257,2792158449,2966376340,2923958981,487115006,1155588638,2937463192,1701275521,375847468,87824707,2831786788,738630438,2920496680,1260643814,542483377,173699661],"next_cursor":0,"next_cursor_str":"0","previous_cursor":0,"previous_cursor_str":"0"}'

GET url: https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/retweeters/ids.json?id=397&count=False&cursor=-1

b'{"ids":[2766771192,1018421041,65555663,2883171442,2495447557,2329303118,400773576,2951536813,2354858683,2805218958,2921074850,717950795,2298780054,2956277463,2932914681,594152187,2149827450,1280652686,255149618,2253500994,1154184554,1028143183,2959583048,2812607934,2950529331,2228419408,2209549874,506047908,1321986698,1678837003,1391372328,876733711,2810075863,1092858866,1190783960,1462374198,2601544682,2904210737,2974097771,2954764264,2174326285,2579330610,2312150604,2935300107,2880845950,2491777656,2904960699,2504816257,2792158449,2966376340,2923958981,487115006,1155588638,2937463192,1701275521,375847468,87824707,2831786788,738630438,2920496680,1260643814,542483377,173699661],"next_cursor":0,"next_cursor_str":"0","previous_cursor":0,"previous_cursor_str":"0"}'

Setting count to false has no apparent effect.

GET url: https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/retweeters/ids.json?id=397&count=false

b'{"ids":[2766771192,1018421041,65555663,2883171442,2495447557,2329303118,400773576,2951536813,2354858683,2805218958,2921074850,717950795,2298780054,2956277463,2932914681,594152187,2149827450,1280652686,255149618,2253500994,1154184554,1028143183,2959583048,2812607934,2950529331,2228419408,2209549874,506047908,1321986698,1678837003,1391372328,876733711,2810075863,1092858866,1190783960,1462374198,2601544682,2904210737,2974097771,2954764264,2174326285,2579330610,2312150604,2935300107,2880845950,2491777656,2904960699,2504816257,2792158449,2966376340,2923958981,487115006,1155588638,2937463192,1701275521,375847468,87824707,2831786788,738630438,2920496680,1260643814,542483377,173699661],"next_cursor":0,"next_cursor_str":"0","previous_cursor":0,"previous_cursor_str":"0"}'

GET url: https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/retweeters/ids.json?id=397&count=false&cursor=-1

b'{"ids":[2766771192,1018421041,65555663,2883171442,2495447557,2329303118,400773576,2951536813,2354858683,2805218958,2921074850,717950795,2298780054,2956277463,2932914681,594152187,2149827450,1280652686,255149618,2253500994,1154184554,1028143183,2959583048,2812607934,2950529331,2228419408,2209549874,506047908,1321986698,1678837003,1391372328,876733711,2810075863,1092858866,1190783960,1462374198,2601544682,2904210737,2974097771,2954764264,2174326285,2579330610,2312150604,2935300107,2880845950,2491777656,2904960699,2504816257,2792158449,2966376340,2923958981,487115006,1155588638,2937463192,1701275521,375847468,87824707,2831786788,738630438,2920496680,1260643814,542483377,173699661],"next_cursor":0,"next_cursor_str":"0","previous_cursor":0,"previous_cursor_str":"0"}'

Setting cursor to random number has no effect

GET url: https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/retweeters/ids.json?id=757763701101490176&cursor=2

b'{"ids":[1051830008,143177815,706875716340686849,114917463,759298774069940224,2848697050,3990477979,722783383647055872,339951175,2647581335,2803545588,2330749884,758573389183262721,975501115,2587732459,498230047,2361850597,4769403156,29107855,20385450,2680014975,190878038,2812446430,702121650683297793,131752228,3861073699,702216241554071553,1461937674,3136820547,360197633,578156311,759264117957984264,35084722,2229515437,602505803,245583615,485241166,795395245,2903684148,1317930270,759095590508695552,3099653994,2311236067,1925706102,2315961918,2176514426,838962740,2260951883,2489791377,1379253114,197281207,2235300116,2502852487,3432053626,122133687,176591472,816289867,1858415006,757729951546118144,1132831700,2233480638,1491635718,840979369,112603618,759228995481239554,22859238,2290702819,3065505324,788488850,759242112240058374,64611681,35664127,333843236,2545637816,172985987,1063614912,274777522,750503536006406144,1858630219,688513,1251867318,2878557819,2564723035,724128202470264832,738880291],"next_cursor":0,"next_cursor_str":"0","previous_cursor":0,"previous_cursor_str":"0"}'

compare with:

GET url: https://api.twitter.com/1.1/statuses/retweeters/ids.json?id=757763701101490176&cursor=-1

b'{"ids":[1051830008,143177815,706875716340686849,114917463,759298774069940224,2848697050,3990477979,722783383647055872,339951175,2647581335,2803545588,2330749884,758573389183262721,975501115,2587732459,498230047,2361850597,4769403156,29107855,20385450,2680014975,190878038,2812446430,702121650683297793,131752228,3861073699,702216241554071553,1461937674,3136820547,360197633,578156311,759264117957984264,35084722,2229515437,602505803,245583615,485241166,795395245,2903684148,1317930270,759095590508695552,3099653994,2311236067,1925706102,2315961918,2176514426,838962740,2260951883,2489791377,1379253114,197281207,2235300116,2502852487,3432053626,122133687,176591472,816289867,1858415006,757729951546118144,1132831700,2233480638,1491635718,840979369,112603618,759228995481239554,22859238,2290702819,3065505324,788488850,759242112240058374,64611681,35664127,333843236,2545637816,172985987,1063614912,274777522,750503536006406144,1858630219,688513,1251867318,2878557819,2564723035,724128202470264832,738880291],"next_cursor":0,"next_cursor_str":"0","previous_cursor":0,"previous_cursor_str":"0"}'

This endpoint still doesn't work properly :(

UPD: https://twittercommunity.com/t/how-can-i-get-all-retweets-of-a-specific-tweet/11602/4
Here's twitter staff answer

This endpoint STILL does not work as expected.

Frankly, it never did. I've brought this up a number of times to the Twitter team, but nothing ever changes.