Turn podcasts into Twitter threads

podcast.py

from TwitterAPI import TwitterAPI
import json
import logging
import time
from collections import OrderedDict
from random import random

"""
Assume 3 participants. You will need to create a Twitter account for each participant, and get API keys for each one.
"""

# Participant #1
CONSUMER_KEY = ''
CONSUMER_SECRET = ''
ACCESS_TOKEN = ''
ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET = ''

bot0_api = TwitterAPI(CONSUMER_KEY, CONSUMER_SECRET, ACCESS_TOKEN, ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET)

# Participant #2
CONSUMER_KEY = ''
CONSUMER_SECRET = ''
ACCESS_TOKEN = ''
ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET = ''

bot1_api = TwitterAPI(CONSUMER_KEY, CONSUMER_SECRET, ACCESS_TOKEN, ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET)

# Participant #3
CONSUMER_KEY = ''
CONSUMER_SECRET = ''
ACCESS_TOKEN = ''
ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET = ''

bot2_api = TwitterAPI(CONSUMER_KEY, CONSUMER_SECRET, ACCESS_TOKEN, ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET)

participants = OrderedDict({ "Interviewer": bot0_api, 
    "Interviewee1": bot1_api, 
    "Interviewee2": bot2_api })

def chunks(l, n):
    """ Break a string of text into n-sized chunks.
        Chunks prioritize periods and question marks. after that, commas and spaces.
    """
    q = []
    total = 0
    remainder = l
    idx = len(l) - 1
    while len(remainder) > 0:
        if len(remainder) <= n:
            q.append(remainder[:idx])
            break
        x = remainder[:n]
        idx = max(x.rfind('?'), x.rfind('.'))
        if idx > 0:
            if idx > 140:
                q.append(remainder[:idx+1])
                remainder = remainder[idx+1:]
                continue
        idx = x.rfind(',')
        if idx > 0:
            if idx > 140:
                q.append(remainder[:idx+1])
                remainder = remainder[idx+1:]
                continue        
        idx = x.rfind(' ')
        q.append(remainder[:idx])
        remainder = remainder[idx+1:]
    return q

"""
  This assumes the podcast transcript is in a text file. 
  Instructions for transcribing text from audio here: https://elaineou.com/2015/06/13/podcast-transcripts-speech-to-text-conversion/
  Transcription format should look like this. Each block of text should start with the speaker's name, and there should be two line breaks when switching speakers.

    Interviewer: How are you today?

    Interviewee1: Splendid, thank you.

    Interviewee2: I am speaking now. 
"""

transcript = open('transcript.txt').read()
transcript = transcript.split("\n\n")

name = participants.keys()[0]
bot = participants[name]
last_id = None # Set this to last tweet id if restarting in the middle of the thread
for t in transcript:
    if ":" in t[:20]:
        name, text = t.split(': ', 1)
        bot = participants[name]
    else:
        text = t
    tweets = chunks(text, 250) # 280 chars minus some chars for usernames
    for tweet in tweets:
        print("%s (%s): %s" % (name, last_id, tweet))
        twit = bot.request('statuses/update', {'status': tweet, 
            'in_reply_to_status_id': last_id, 'auto_populate_reply_metadata': True})
        if twit.response.json().get('errors'):
            print(twit.response.json().get('errors'))
            raise # account likely restricted. Log in, solve the captcha, then restart from last_id
        print(twit.response.json())
        last_id = twit.response.json().get('id_str')
        time.sleep(round(random()*20)) # random sleep, so Twitter won't think it's a bot