Last month, when X was still known as Twitter, the company said that it would be locking its dashboard app Tweetdeck, now XPro, behind its subscription paywall. At the time, the former bird app said that the change would come in 30 days. It’s a little bit past that now, but it has finally happened to us, and probably to everyone else soon.
Typing the old Tweetdeck URL (tweetdeck.twitter.com) into the browser address bar now simply redirects us to the subscription page. Which, incidentally, still calls itself Blue rather than the new X Premium name it’s supposed to use.
When the locking of Tweetdeck behind a paywall was first announced in early July, it came with a promise of additional features. This includes full composer functionality, Spaces, video docking, and polls, among other things. These additions were the justification for making the once free feature something that only paying subscribers get to use.
Which may be argued as fair depending on your perspective. But at the same time, useful tool as useful as Tweetdeck getting transitioned from a free one to something you need to pay for would no doubt induce whiplash, especially for those who used it very frequently.
All that being said, the company did announce that this change was coming. And it is very much in line with owner Elon Musk trying to monetise its user base as much as possible. This includes enticing them with the promise of ad revenue sharing, as well as the lowering of its payout threshold. It wouldn’t be impossible for the subscription fees of Tweetdeck users to end up subsidising the ragebait payouts.
(Source: Tweetdeck)
