Elon Musk's X Completes TweetDeck's Transition To A Paid Service, Prompting Comparisons With Meta's Free Offerings

TweetDeck, a web application that can load several columns simultaneously, will no longer be available for free as Elon Musk’s X enforces a paywall. 

What Happened: Long cherished for its ability to manage multiple columns of content, TweetDeck had been a stalwart tool for journalists, marketers, and power users. 

However, the service would no longer be free of charge as the company finally follows through with the transition it has been hinting at since July 3. 

See Also: Elon Musk’s Cash Offer Fails To Entice X Users, Less Than 100K People Opt For Premium: Report

The implications of this shift are far-reaching, especially for users who relied on the convenience and multi-column interface of TweetDeck to navigate through the microblogging site’s often overwhelming stream of information. 

While the move seems to be aimed at driving X’s revenue stream, it has been gathering mixed reactions from users. 

Social media commentator Matt Navarra took to the platform and asserted that this move might deter some users from using the site altogether. 

He also compared it with Meta Platforms Inc.’s META Business Suite saying he doesn’t think the Mark Zuckerberg-led company would ever put a paywall on the service it provides Facebook and Instagram users to connect their accounts in one place. 

I can't imagine meta charging for meta business suite, for example.

And the majority of posts on X is likely created by those who use tweetdeck but don't pay for x premium.

And charging then for access won't work. V few will pay. They'll just use Twitter less, or not at all.

— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) August 15, 2023

Why It’s Important: In February earlier this year, Meta rolled out a subscription service for Facebook and Instagram that was akin to Musk’s X Blue, formerly known as Twitter Blue. 

In July, Meta launched Threads, an app that closely resembles X, formerly known as Twitter’s feed of real-time, text-based conversations. 

During the same time, a survey conducted by Benzinga suggested that changes to Musk’s platform could drive users toward Zuckerberg’s Threads.

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