Report: Twitter Buys TweetDeck for $40 Million

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Twitter has reportedly bought TweetDeck for an estimated $40 million.

London-based TweetDeck has enjoyed huge global success with its Twitter software, first for desktop computers and later for a variety of mobile devices.

TweetDeck appeals to hardcore tweeters who spend lots of their time on the social network. It makes it easy to keep an eye on the wider Twitter, the stuff that lies beyond your personal timeline. It’s designed for displaying and tracking custom searches, hashtags, and lists.

As a result, TweetDeck is popular with ‘pro’ Twitter users. It’s a great way for them to keep track of many different threads, to hold multiple simultaneous conversations, and to keep an eye on trends.

Neither Twitter or TweetDeck were saying anything about the rumor this morning. Twitter’s PR team said they would continue to not comment on rumors, and TweetDeck boss Iain Dodsworth said “An impressive number of people seem to have my phone number and like to ring it at 4am“. The BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones Tweeted that he had confirmed the sale, however.

What does Twitter get out of this? For a start, it gets instant access to high quality, popular client software that works on a variety of platforms. But it also gets that little bit more control, something it has demonstrated clearly that it is very keen to have. Twitter wants people tweeting through its own interfaces, its own clients. It is actively discouraging developers from building new client applications.

Buying TweetDeck gives Twitter a powerful arsenal of software options it can offer its users, giving them fewer excuses to go hunting for something from a third-party.

(Via CNN Money)