The big TweetDeck sale was announced in recent news like this CNN Money article: Twitter Aquires TweetDeck, but what is not clear is how this move will affect users, if at all. Twitter has been known to growl and rush at third-party clients with the force of a pit bull. According to articles like Twitter to Devs: Don’t Make Twitter Clients, there was even some question about whether TweetDeck was on the white list or chopping block. But now that the deal has been done, it’s clear they were in the cross-hairs for an entirely different reason. With the trigger squeezed, users are probably wondering what new changes there will be.
Other than the obvious, like Twitter being a little lighter on cash (perhaps even 40-50 million) and heavier on newly acquired TweetDeck employees, some (like this NYTimes Blog) don’t really indicate any changes to the user experience other than expecting TweetDeck to re-dress to better fit with the Twitter brand, and even then it’s doubtful that users will really notice or care.
If the only difference users are likely to report are changes in the look and feel of TweetDeck, and perhaps updates to how it posts and syncs to parallel social networks like Facebook, then the buzz about the big sale is likely over. However, the downside to such arrow-to-the-symbiotic-heart sales like this result in a neglect for a once thriving client like TweetDeck, that wouldn’t just affect users, but turn them away from using the CRM platform altogether.
Share your comments with us if you see any changes or signs that the TweetDeck acquisition will be anything more than short-lived gossip.
