One year ago, there were 150,000 third-party Twitter apps. This week, Twitter announced that there are one million Twitter apps and a a new app is registered as frequently as 1.5 apps per minute.That's a lot of Twitter apps!There are currently 750,000 registered Twitter app developers, and as the New York Times reports, "since December 2010, more than $500 million has been invested in its third-party developers and more than $1 billion has been paid out in companies buying other companies."What's a company to do with all of these third-party apps and developers getting rich around them? For Twitter, the answer is stopping many apps in their tracks, acquiring apps, and creating its own Twitter Developer site.

This initiative brings the 1.5 Twitter apps that are developed per minute more clearly on Twitter's radar screen and allows Twitter to have more control over app development than they had previously. At the same time, the company looks like it's offering a welcoming community to access documentation, information, and conversation.Very clever, Twitter.One can hope that the Twitter Developer site will lead to the debut of even better apps that Twitter approves of and won't take down in the future. On the flip side, one can assume that there will be some early-stage apps that get scooped up by Twitter or given the red light. Again, let's hope that a better user experience is the ultimate result.What do you think of the Twitter Developer site? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.Image: Twitter