Twitter has made its popular TweetDeck, now XPro, a paid app. The app, which allows users to manage multiple Twitter accounts and view timelines in a single interface, will now be available only X Premium subscribers (formerly called as Twitter Blue subscribers). This means that you will be able to access the service only when you pay for it.
“X has finally killed free access to tweetdeck. It’s now officially a Premium subscriber-only tool a sales page for X Premium now pops up when trying to lead Tweetdeck. Bad news for social media managers, journalists, and power users,” famous social media consultant Matt Navarra posted on X.
The move has been received with mixed reaction from users. Some have praised Twitter for finally taking a step towards making TweetDeck a sustainable business, while some have expressed their disappointment that the app is no longer a free tool.
“This is really unfortunate. I have used TweetDeck for 13 years, in all of my social media jobs and for personal use. My time on Twitter will definitely be limited now,” wrote one X user.
“Musk wants to keep pushing us towards subscription,” wrote another user.
X’s decision to charge users for TweetDeck isn’t out of the blue. The company in July had announced that it would make TweetDeck a paid service and that the transition would take place in next 30 days.
In the same post, X informed that the new TweetDeck will be an “improved version” of TweetDeck with added functionalities.
The new features in TweetDeck include a sign-on flow that helps you set up your TweetDeck experience the way you’d like to. A tweet composer that lets you create threads and add photos, videos, GIFs, polls, or emojis to your Tweets, including scheduled Tweets. TweetDeck 2.0 will have an Advanced search option to help find the content you’re looking for. A tweet order so you can view top Tweets or latest Tweets first in columns. A feature called Decks to let you organise your columns into groups for cleaner workspaces. A Column Creator for a more intuitive way to create columns, and includes the ability to “Search Twitter” from within the column. Video Docking that will allow you to watch a video while performing other functions like accessing content in the same column, and changing Decks.
Twitter Blue now called X Premium, is a paid service, offering a range of exclusive features such as ad-free browsing, ability to post longer tweets, edit tweet and more. It costs Rs 900 per month for Android and iPhone users in India.
TweetDeck has a loyal following but it is not as widely used as Twitter’s main app. Therefore, it is unclear how many users will be willing to pay for it.
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