4 ms·

Twitter acquires TweetDeck

72 points by daimyoyo 15y ago

ujjvala 15y ago
Advantage of doing it right...
Mazy 15y ago
"CNN reported that Twitter acquired the business for more than $40 million in a mix of cash and stock. If confirmed, the deal would end nearly 6 months of rumors about advanced talks between the two companies." The headline is misleading. CNN didn't confirm, they just reported on it.
dotBen 15y ago
Whether CNN has "confirmed it" or just reported it, CNN Money is certainly an unusual source to break a startup story like this.
- hboon 15y ago
  They are mainstream now. I was playing the Wheel of Fortune iOS game a couple of days ago. Both Twitter and Facebook were answers.
  - uptown 15y ago
    Yeah ... Cause the arbitrar of what's mainstream is most definitely a dated game-show turned mobile time-waster.
- Confusion 15y ago
  Which adds credibility to the 'next bubble' thesis. What happened last time when these kinds of minor stories started appearing on CNN?
elithrar 15y ago
I'm interested to see what Twitter actually does with the client. Do they EOL it and force a migration to their own official Twitter client? If so, what precedent does this set for other popular third-party client acquisition? If not, where do they go? Tweetdeck, despite the name, does more than just Twitter—though I'm sure the number of users accessing other networks through it is low—but they're going to need to bring it in-line with their monetisation strategy.
- Lewisham 15y ago
  To my untrained eyes, it looks like they're trying to consolidate the Twitter eco-system, going by their recent statements about third-party clients. I would expect TweetDeck to either live on as something like "Twitter Pro", or be EOL'd and the team rolled into Twitter (or even layoffs).
- MatthewPhillips 15y ago
  Precedent is that if you get big enough to become a threat, they will buy you off.
  - Lewisham 15y ago
    What "threat" was TweetDeck? All Twitter has to do is pull their API key, come up with some story about third-party clients, and that is that. Twitter has always been in the power position.
    - code_duck 15y ago
      It would be a very unpopular move, if nothing else. I don't know if TweetDeck has this much loyalty, but some companies in Twitter's position see 3rd party developers who grow large as a threat - members can grow to identify more with that developer than the underlying service.
    - MatthewPhillips 15y ago
      Then why didn't they?
      - Lewisham 15y ago
        Multiple reasons: 1. Goodwill with developers might be worth more than $40m in the long run. I think the argument about users is fallacious: users will find something else (because there aren't any rivals to Twitter itself) and quickly forget. Developers don't forget as quickly. 2. Maybe they actually liked the software and wanted to distribute it 3. Maybe it was a talent acquisition Anyone who has a business built on an API to another service is completely at the whims of that service, and pretending that you form some form of "threat" to the host is a dangerous move. I would hazard that the only company that has ever grown large enough to strong arm the host was Zynga with Facebook (see Zynga/Facebook Credits).
mattwdelong 15y ago
Here is a link to the original CNN article - http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/23/technology/twitter_acquires_tweetdeck/index.htm http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/23/technology/twitter_acquires_...
safgrehr 15y ago
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mindball 15y ago
Ad network next?
ankimal 15y ago
What does this have to say about APIs and how much of your data you want to open up? Is twitter because of the eco-system it created through its open API? The more pessimistic argument would be that the openness has come back to bite it. How many more ghosts lurk in the closet?
mindball 15y ago
Ad network next?
yahelc 15y ago
Motivations here are obvious (and were obvious 3 weeks ago when this was first reported): It's a defensive acquisition to prevent UberMedia from taking over the Twitter ecosystem. http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/02/twitter-to-buy-tweetdeck-for-40-million-50-million/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/02/twitter-to-buy-tweetdeck-fo...
- abhishekpathak 15y ago
  Isn't twitter currently on a "no-profit" model(apart from promoted trends)?
jitbit 15y ago
I guess they'll rip off the Facebook part and make it an "official" Twitter client for Windows. After 1 hour of working, the win-version of Tweetdeck eats more memory than Visual Studio + SQL Server... Kinda bad for an "official" client that is supposed to have high penetration among "casual" users, and work on Netbooks

72 points by daimyoyo 15y ago

Advantage of doing it right...

Mazy 15y ago

"CNN reported that Twitter acquired the business for more than $40 million in a mix of cash and stock. If confirmed, the deal would end nearly 6 months of rumors about advanced talks between the two companies." The headline is misleading. CNN didn't confirm, they just reported on it.

dotBen 15y ago

Whether CNN has "confirmed it" or just reported it, CNN Money is certainly an unusual source to break a startup story like this.

hboon 15y ago
They are mainstream now. I was playing the Wheel of Fortune iOS game a couple of days ago. Both Twitter and Facebook were answers.
- uptown 15y ago
  Yeah ... Cause the arbitrar of what's mainstream is most definitely a dated game-show turned mobile time-waster.
Confusion 15y ago
Which adds credibility to the 'next bubble' thesis. What happened last time when these kinds of minor stories started appearing on CNN?

elithrar 15y ago

I'm interested to see what Twitter actually does with the client. Do they EOL it and force a migration to their own official Twitter client? If so, what precedent does this set for other popular third-party client acquisition? If not, where do they go? Tweetdeck, despite the name, does more than just Twitter—though I'm sure the number of users accessing other networks through it is low—but they're going to need to bring it in-line with their monetisation strategy.

Lewisham 15y ago
To my untrained eyes, it looks like they're trying to consolidate the Twitter eco-system, going by their recent statements about third-party clients. I would expect TweetDeck to either live on as something like "Twitter Pro", or be EOL'd and the team rolled into Twitter (or even layoffs).
MatthewPhillips 15y ago
Precedent is that if you get big enough to become a threat, they will buy you off.
- Lewisham 15y ago
  What "threat" was TweetDeck? All Twitter has to do is pull their API key, come up with some story about third-party clients, and that is that. Twitter has always been in the power position.
  - code_duck 15y ago
    It would be a very unpopular move, if nothing else. I don't know if TweetDeck has this much loyalty, but some companies in Twitter's position see 3rd party developers who grow large as a threat - members can grow to identify more with that developer than the underlying service.
  - MatthewPhillips 15y ago
    Then why didn't they?
    - Lewisham 15y ago
      Multiple reasons: 1. Goodwill with developers might be worth more than $40m in the long run. I think the argument about users is fallacious: users will find something else (because there aren't any rivals to Twitter itself) and quickly forget. Developers don't forget as quickly. 2. Maybe they actually liked the software and wanted to distribute it 3. Maybe it was a talent acquisition Anyone who has a business built on an API to another service is completely at the whims of that service, and pretending that you form some form of "threat" to the host is a dangerous move. I would hazard that the only company that has ever grown large enough to strong arm the host was Zynga with Facebook (see Zynga/Facebook Credits).

mattwdelong 15y ago

Here is a link to the original CNN article - http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/23/technology/twitter_acquires_tweetdeck/index.htm http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/23/technology/twitter_acquires_...

safgrehr 15y ago

ONLINE STORE : ====( http://www.etradinglife.com http://www.etradinglife.com )===== The website wholesale for many kinds of fashion shoes, like the nike,jordan,prada,, also including the jeans,shirts,bags,hat and the decorations. All the products are free shipping, and the the price is competitive, and also can accept the paypal payment.,after the payment, can ship within short time. free shipping competitive price any size available accept the paypal jordan shoes $32 nike shox $32 Christan Audigier bikini $23 Ed Hardy Bikini $23 Smful short_t-shirt_woman $15 ed hardy short_tank_woman $16 Sandal $32 christian louboutin $80 Sunglass $15 COACH_Necklace $27 handbag $33 AF tank woman $17 puma slipper woman $30 ====( http://www.etradinglife.com http://www.etradinglife.com )=====

mindball 15y ago

Ad network next?

ankimal 15y ago

What does this have to say about APIs and how much of your data you want to open up? Is twitter because of the eco-system it created through its open API? The more pessimistic argument would be that the openness has come back to bite it. How many more ghosts lurk in the closet?

mindball 15y ago

Ad network next?

yahelc 15y ago

Motivations here are obvious (and were obvious 3 weeks ago when this was first reported): It's a defensive acquisition to prevent UberMedia from taking over the Twitter ecosystem. http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/02/twitter-to-buy-tweetdeck-for-40-million-50-million/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/02/twitter-to-buy-tweetdeck-fo...

abhishekpathak 15y ago
Isn't twitter currently on a "no-profit" model(apart from promoted trends)?

jitbit 15y ago

I guess they'll rip off the Facebook part and make it an "official" Twitter client for Windows. After 1 hour of working, the win-version of Tweetdeck eats more memory than Visual Studio + SQL Server... Kinda bad for an "official" client that is supposed to have high penetration among "casual" users, and work on Netbooks