Twitter says that in 30 days users must pay for Blue to use TweetDeck, the new version of which supports full composer functionality, Spaces, polls, and more

We have just launched a new, improved version of TweetDeck. All users can continue to access their saved searches & workflows via https://tweetdeck.twitter.com/ by selecting “Try the new TweetDeck” in the bottom left menu. Some notes on getting started and the future of the product... https://twitter.com/...

@twittersupport 2023-07-04

Context & Ripple Effects

TweetDeck had been moving toward a broader web redesign since Twitter's 2021 preview of revamped columns and controls. A paid version for professional users had also been under consideration years earlier, in Twitter's 2017 discussion of subscription features for brands and news organizations.

The change matters because it couples a core multi-column workflow with Blue rather than treating TweetDeck as a standalone free utility. The migration also coincides with reports that legacy API support was removed, disrupting the older TweetDeck experience.

First-order effects

TweetDeck users have a 30-day window before Blue becomes required, making continued access to saved-search and multi-column workflows a paid decision.
Blue gains an upgraded TweetDeck feature set, including the full composer, Spaces, and polls, as a subscriber benefit.

Second-order effects

Heavy users such as social-media managers, publishers, and researchers must either absorb the subscription cost or shift workflow to other tools, raising the value of alternatives that preserve multi-account monitoring.
Twitter can test whether professional workflow features convert users to Blue, rather than relying solely on consumer-facing subscription perks.

Third-order effects

If sustained, the move would make platform-native professional tooling a more explicit subscription layer, with formerly free workflow utilities used to segment high-intensity users from casual users.
The transition illustrates how retiring legacy interfaces can both reduce support for older products and create leverage to migrate users into a platform's current monetization model.

The trend: Social platforms are increasingly packaging power-user publishing and monitoring tools as paid subscription benefits while consolidating users onto newer product infrastructure.

Discussion

Twitter Help Center Twitter Help Center on x
About TweetDeck — We've launched a new version of TweetDeck globally.
@mmasnick.bsky.social Mike Masnick on bluesky
The grand “fuck you” to Twitter's most committed users continues apace. https://www.theverge.com/...
@numbergoup.com @numbergoup.com on bluesky
rip classic tweetdeck you're probably my fav tech thing ever
@danprimack Dan Primack on x
New Tweetdeck = New Coke
@genepark Gene Park on x
omg a paywall for TWEETDECK?! i don't want to spend all my time on twitter complaining about twitter but that is egregious https://twitter.com/...
@motomatters David Emmett on x
OK, I think Musk's takeover of Twitter has been 9% hilarious disaster and 2% quite good idea, but this makes absolute sense. Tweetdeck is very much a tool for power users, makes sense to charge for it. Still won't be paying though. https://twitter.com/...
@britainelects @britainelects on x
For ten years TweetDeck has been fundamental to our election and poll reporting. The new iteration is a broken mess. New Twitter is strangling free information flow. We will continue to be active on this site, but we look forward to seeing you all on [redacted] at a later date. h…
@oalexanderdk Oliver Alexander on x
“In 30 days, users must be Verified to access TweetDeck.” Forcing people to pay for features that were previously free. People don't want to pay for Blue unless you create value. Paywalling previously free features isn't adding value, it will just drive people off the platform ht…
@selviano Michael Selvidge on x
I don't think the business genius knows how much this will alienate his power users. Maybe 1% (or even less) of the userbase uses Tweetdeck, but it's a really really important 1%—a foundation to the whole ecosystem https://twitter.com/...
@wongmjane Jane Manchun Wong on x
@TwitterSupport > In 30 days, users must be Verified to access TweetDeck so it's a 30-day trial
@digiphile Alex Howard on x
Forcing us to use new @TweetDeck is bad. @Twitter forcing us to pay for @TwitterBlue to keep using @Tweetdeck after 30 days is far worse, though not unexpected. One of the most hostile moves Twitter could make, for superusers. Teams being “temporarily unavailable” also hurts. htt…
@mattophobia Matt Collins on x
Pretty much everything posted on the Nerd³ Twitter accounts rely on TweetDeck. So I guess they're dead. https://twitter.com/...
@mattmcgee Matt McGee on x
FFS, just make the whole %$#!$% platform a paid product and get it over with. https://twitter.com/...
@topherflorence Topher Florence on x
we said tweetdeck out loud too many times like beetlejuice
@kellycrandall Kelly Crandall on x
How long before nothing connected to this platform is free? https://twitter.com/...
@emilyayoung1 Emily Young on x
Aw man. The “new, improved TweetDeck” already sucked, and now not only is classic gone, in 30 days you'll need to pay to access the new one. Even if I pay, without multi-account columns this is actually going to make Twitter harder for me to use. This might be my pain threshold. …
@bobwulff @bobwulff on x
this is the perfect way to get me to use twitter significantly less. https://twitter.com/...
@pentadact Tom Francis on x
TweetDeck's ability to manage which types of notifications you see where was how I kept a relatively positive relationship with Twitter. I actually would have paid for it, before a) a horrible idiot baby took over and b) broke Twitter then c) ruined TweetDeck. https://twitter.com…
@absurdistwords @absurdistwords on x
So you killed my TweetDeck. I'm still not paying. I will be writing tweets by hand and mailing them in when you've reduced us to that. You want my tweets? Molon labe.
@0xngmi @0xngmi on x
> Teams functionality in TweetDeck is temporarily unavailable and will be restored in the coming weeks. so they pushed a product with broken functionality and then made the old product that still worked inaccessible literally clown world https://twitter.com/...
@chancehmiller Chance Miller on x
PSA @9to5Mac might be slower to share new stories over the coming days. First: Twitter killed our API access for auto tweeting. Now: Twitter has killed TweetDeck “Teams,” which is how we managed access for manual tweeting. So, yeah. There is only so much we can do.
@firstdogonmoon @firstdogonmoon on x
now they are ruining tweetdeck. my time on this wretched website is drawing to a close my dear friends. not yet of course. but soon... i'll still hang around to whinge about stuff a bit longer. meanwhile i'm over at the blue site where we are all having a lovely time
@nickheathsport Nick Heath on x
Possibly the biggest Muskian intervention that means I'll be on here less while simultaneously being the reason I might be more productive elsewhere. https://twitter.com/...
@evacide Eva on x
I see that Elon's plan to make Twitter virtually unusable and then charge people money for anything that makes it suck slightly less is continuing apace. Masterful. They will be teaching this one in business schools for generations. https://twitter.com/...
@jamiedupree Jamie Dupree on x
$8 per month to use Tweetdeck starting August 1 https://twitter.com/...
@bettertdeck @bettertdeck on x
With TweetDeck becoming paid in 30 days (no chance they will back down) and Preview being forced on everybody, this is the end. I will archive the GitHub project and update the website, delist the extension later today. Thank you for the years of support, it's been real. 🫡
@eramdam Damien on x
The worst abt this TweetDeck bullshit is that, the Preview isn't all bad. It just hasn't been touched in 2 years and they're forcing it and you have to pay for it in 30 days. I wouldn't mind paying if I knew it would receive updates, which it won't because the team is gone.
@saletan Will Saletan on x
“In 30 days, users must be Verified to access TweetDeck.” Cause of death: self-asphyxiation https://twitter.com/... [image]
@sfmnemonic Mike Godwin on x
The precise thing that Musk's imposed (and later amended) limit on reading tweets seems to have profoundly broken is Tweetdeck, in all versions. That matters a lot to the experience of those of us who use Tweetdeck, who find that it makes Twitter more curated and less annoying.
@mikeysmith Mikey Smith on x
So Twitter hard launched new Tweetdeck without implementing team account management support, which breaks it for basically every brand and media outlet. 👍
@radiofreetom Tom Nichols on x
All this is just more of Musk's temper tantrum that he couldn't just command Twitter users to pay. He's trying to figure out more ways to squeeze people into paying him 8 dollars (like the new-and-shittier TweetDeck) because he's still furious that people won't pay him 8 dollars.
@q_review Quinton Reviews🎬 on x
Tweetdeck has been shit since they quietly removed the ability to schedule tweets beyond two years into the future https://twitter.com/... [image]
@jonalba Jon Alba on x
Actively driving your most engaging and valuable users off your platform is a hell of a move. That's probably it for me for good in terms of utilizing this for production and work. I've been a loyal Tweetdeck user for a decade. The dumbest of dumb. https://twitter.com/...
@bdsams Brad Sams on x
Twitter and Reddit are in a race to the dumpster https://twitter.com/...
@emptyseatspics @emptyseatspics on x
Got all excited until I saw the last bullet point 🙄 https://twitter.com/...
@tomwarren Tom Warren on x
ugh TweetDeck will be only available for Twitter Blue subscribers in 30 days time and they're forcing everyone onto the new version https://twitter.com/...
@freyaholmer @freyaholmer on x
[eating at a restaurant] manager: we just launched a new, improved chair! me [w. food in my mouth]: oh, this one is fine tha- manager: you can continue eating with our new chairs me [still chewing]: no really we're g- manager: *pulls chair out from under me* $8/month bitch https:…
@airlineflyer Jason Rabinowitz on x
Ah shit, there it is. They're putting Tweetdeck behind a paywall, and that paywall comes with the blue checkmark that I want nothing to do with. I've had a Tweetdeck window open on my laptop every workday for a decade, but I won't be paying for it. Not under these circumstances. …
@puppy_eggs @puppy_eggs on x
Was thinking about this the morning. How many people would have likely paid 8 bucks for tweetdeck, but won't pay 8 bucks for a license to tweetdeck on a dying platform that comes in the form of basically a big sign on your head that says “I'm an asshole moron who smells” https://…
@smtuffy Sean Tuffy on x
The only weird thing about Twitter charging for TweetDeck is that it took them so long to do it. It's a perfect premium feature for power users.
@martinsfp @martinsfp on x
I always said TweetDeck is what would get me to pay for Twitter Blue 😬 But without multi-account access, it's a chunk less useful. https://twitter.com/...
@miskiart @miskiart on x
wow bold move announcing charging for tweetdeck when this website barely works https://twitter.com/...
@qt0ri @qt0ri on x
I've been using tweetdeck for almost 8 years and charging people to use the “new” version thats functionally broken makes 0 sense to me Core features are even missing from the new version??? Hello??? https://twitter.com/...
@nash076 @nash076 on x
Fucking with Tweetdeck was the third rail. I know people who won't touch this hellhole without it, and I know damn well they aren't gonna start paying for it. Fucking stumpfucking dipshit. https://twitter.com/...
@ChrisPirillo@mastodon.social Chris Pirillo on mastodon
@Techmeme ...the new TweetDeck was shitty before Elon took over, so you can't blame him for that catastrophe.
@bettertdeck @bettertdeck on x
Writing was on the wall on this one. We will see how long the cookie based trick works but it's a shame they're trying to push a non finished replacement for Tweetdeck because it's easier than to fix what's broken. https://twitter.com/...
@rustybrick Barry Schwartz on x
Just to be clear, the new Tweetdeck has exactly the same issues with columns not loading - cc @jaypeters https://twitter.com/... [image]
@jeffveillette Jeff Veillette on x
Tweetdeck going dark to free users next month. I'm in constant debate with myself whether this is sabotage or he really is this dumb. Might be both https://twitter.com/...
@a1goy Alex Goy on x
Tweetdeck's open on a second screen and keeps me sane when WFH. As Ian says, it works so of course it has to die. Why make users want to be here?! https://twitter.com/...
@digiphile Alex Howard on x
@Twitter @cwarzel This has been one of the worst weeks in @Twitter's long, weird history. Tweets behind a registration wall. Service degraded for people globally. Now a paywall for a worse version of THE tool for superusers. It's like the people running it don't understand how it…
@jayrosen_nyu Jay Rosen on x
An endgame that feels more visible now: Twitter will try to force everyone into a subscription and that will be the final break. Only his fans will be left on the platform. https://www.theverge.com/...
@ayroblu @ayroblu on x
@Eramdam Yes, to reduce scraping we've removed the legacy APIs
@ayroblu @ayroblu on x
@tomwarren Work in progress, I'm hoping it can be released soon
@digiphile Alex Howard on x
Twitter staff say removing support for legacy APIs broke legacy @Tweetdeck. If so, epically bad judgement. Tweetdeck users have been an unusually productive, critical part of this platform's ecosystem. Key creators to support, not force to go to a worse tool they must pay for... …
@iandunt Ian Dunt on x
Just absolutely fucking the Twitter experience day by day. I've had tweetdeck open every working day for over a decade. It's how I use Twitter. Now we're to be shifted to the dreadful new layout and even then only if we're verified. https://www.theverge.com/...
@martinsfp @martinsfp on x
Noooooooo! Multi-account support is so useful! https://twitter.com/...
@intelcrab @intelcrab on x
Let's (generously) assume that an average tweetdeck session exposes users to 300 tweets every 10 minutes. That blows your rate limit in an hour. https://twitter.com/...
r/Twitter r on reddit
Twitter's ‘new’ Tweetdeck lives behind a verified paywall
@junlper.bsky.social @junlper.bsky.social on bluesky
absolutely incredible [image]
@kilgoretrout.bsky.social Kilgore Trout on bluesky
a real sign the twitter apocalypse is swelling: have seen multiple sports twitter accounts jumping to bluesky in the past day who had not even heard of this place a week ago
@mmasnick.bsky.social Mike Masnick on bluesky
Again, pretty much the only thing keeping me checking out Twitter had been baseball (but with the new limits I stopped). I've offered invites to baseball folks, but no luck getting any of them over here. [embedded post]
@caseynewton.bsky.social Casey Newton on bluesky
Whenever Twitter rate-limits you the CEO should pop up in the app and say “I'm Linda Yaccarino and we'll be right back-a-rino” and do finger guns
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
@TitterDaily Temporary emergency measure. We were getting data pillaged so much that it was degrading service for normal users!
@trace_cohen Trace Cohen on x
Hey @elonmusk texting tweets no longer have previews!? Come on [image]
@footballcliches Adam Hurrey on x
Watching these final, calamitous days of Twitter makes me realise what it must be like to be a lifelong fan of a ruinously mismanaged League Two club that's on its knees. ELON, YOU ARE MERELY A CUSTODIAN OF THIS PLATFORM
@majorityfm @majorityfm on x
Elon Musk 10-year challenge [image]
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
Now to 10k, 1k & 0.5k
@junlper @junlper on x
so excited to download movies for free on twitter as soon as this feature gets implemented. say hello to the best pirating website of all time https://twitter.com/... [image]
@sashakaletsky Sasha Kaletsky on x
Twitter in-app purchases are down ~30% since April peak to $3m monthly. Even if Twitter kept all of it (they don't), that's only 10-20% of their Google Cloud invoice. [image]
@jayrosen_nyu Jay Rosen on x
As a critic, I employ a distinction between what I expect, and what I predict. So I expect Twitter's CEO to address the rate limit confusion, because CEOs are supposed to take reponsibility for such things. But I do not predict this will happen because— well, I've been around. ht…
@zaleskiluke Luke Zaleski on x
On the one hand, same. But also she's saying it all with her silence right now. Elon is twitter. And Twitter is broken https://twitter.com/...
@patrickw Patrick W. Watson on x
Twitter's new CEO was already undermined long before she was hired. Musk was never going to let anyone else make CEO-level decisions. Worse, since she can't make any credible commitments, advertisers have no reason to believe anything she says. https://www.reuters.com/...
@rmac18 @rmac18 on x
Yesterday was a good barometer for the standing of Twitter's new CEO. The site under went into crisis, ostensibly caused by its owner, and she has yet to say anything publicly.
@0xngmi @0xngmi on x
llamao [image]
@huntingthedead @huntingthedead on x
I've never once read 100 tweets in one day, I'm beyond unaffected by this 🤷‍♂️ https://twitter.com/...
@jack @jack on x
Running Twitter is hard. I don't wish that stress upon anyone. I trust that the team is doing their best under the constraints they have, which are immense. It's easy to critique the decisions from afar...which I'm guilty of...but I know the goal is to see Twitter thrive. It will…
@goldman Jason Goldman on x
Yes, the service which has both crippled itself to prevent its users' content from being seen and also introduced arbitrary speech rules like “cis is a slur” is definitely thinking about building the decentralized future imagined here [image]
@notabigjerk Lauren on x
its absolutely insane zuck might win in the end. he flushed billions down the toilet on web3 but no one else is realistically positioned to step in with a decent clone for the site bought by the only guy weirder than him. just goes to show, staying in the game is all that matters
@benjysarlin Benjy Sarlin on x
Weird we aren't getting updates from the Twitter CEO who is the person in charge of company as everyone knows
@davenewworld_2 @davenewworld_2 on x
A story in 3 acts [image]
@levie Aaron Levie on x
Just was rate limited for a few hours. In that time I got to inbox zero, wrote 6 blog posts, went on a bike ride, pivoted a company, read 2 books, and learned Japanese. Rate limits will save humanity.
@austin_rief @austin_rief on x
There's never been a better time to compete with twitter. If I'm Zuck, I'm launching my Twitter competitor today. https://twitter.com/...
@alex_valaitis Alex Valaitis on x
The armchair quarterbacking from @jack is so tiresome. Under his control: -Twitter engaged in massive censorship -Did not integrate with any open protocols -Little-to-no product innovation Now: -Constantly promotes competitor apps -Pumps his bags (both he + Square own a ton... ht…
@auschwitzmuseum @auschwitzmuseum on x
.@twitter @elonmusk Support memory by excluding tweets of @AuschwitzMuseum from the limits. Most of our tweets commemorate individual victims of the Auschwitz camp on their birthdays. We remind their names, faces and their fate. They deserve to be seen and remembered by all. http…
r/EnoughMuskSpam r on reddit
Musk's Twitter rate limits could undermine new CEO, ad experts say

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