In Twitter's latest attempt to make Twitter Blue a thing, it looks like the company is targeting TweetDeck, a separate app for using Twitter that has amassed a pretty loyal following of dedicated users.
Security researcher Jane Manchun Wong found some code yesterday that made it clear Twitter is likely going to make TweetDeck a paid feature exclusive to Twitter Blue subscribers. The code redirects users to the Twitter Blue sign-up page when they try to access TweetDeck.
Twitter Blue, for those who haven't been following closely, is Twitter's attempt at amassing a paid subscription base, so far to mixed success. The social media platform launched it in November for $2.99 a month, with features like an Undo Tweet button that users have been begging for for years. Other power-user features include folders for bookmarks and a special mode for reading long threads.
Meanwhile, TweetDeck offers a completely unique Twitter experience. The service began as a third-party app before Twitter acquired it for $40 million in 2011 and then pretty much left it alone. Last year, The Verge reported that Twitter was working on a "big overhaul" of TweetDeck. That redesign hasn't yet rolled out, but the look proved polarizing in beta testing.
Another thing about the new TweetDeck code that Manchun Wong discovered is that the app is being marketed as an "ad-free experience," which is notable since Twitter Blue up until this point hasn't been ad-free. But TweetDeck is currently ad-free, and it seems likely that Twitter realizes it would enrage long-time power users by clogging up the TweetDeck timeline with ads.
Twitter hasn't confirmed when the TweetDeck redesign will roll out, and the company told The Verge it had "nothing to share on this at the moment” as far as plans to make TweetDeck part of a premium subscription.
Climate TRACE's data show emissions at the facility-level.Image: Climate TRACE