TweetDeck becomes paid service days after rebranding as XPro

Elon Musk-owned X, formerly Twitter, has turned its social media dashboard TweetDeck into a paid service in a bid to push more people towards the social media platform’s paid subscription service. The new restrictions came into place just after the dashboard was rebranded into X Pro, following the site-wide rebranding exercise.

Currently, the TweetDeck website redirects to a page to purchase the subscription. The users without an X Blue subscription can’t access TweetDeck anymore.

What is TweetDeck/XPro?

Originally built as a third-party application, XPro functions as a social media dashboard that allows users to track rising trends across various topics, highlight trending users and hashtags, and manage multiple Twitter accounts. The tool was acquired by Twitter in 2011 due to its immense popularity among the users. XPro was used by individuals like social media managers, digital publishers and digital marketing agencies. The dashboard is quite handy for the users who need to keep an eye out for trends and track multiple accounts on the platform.

What do the new changes mean?

While the XPro service has been put behind a paywall, the change was not unexpected. The company had previously announced on July 4 that the XPro would soon be available only to X Blue verified users.

Announcing the launch of a new version of Tweetdeck X said that the tool will soon be available only for the verified users.

“We have just launched a new, improved version of TweetDeck. All users can continue to access their saved searches & workflows via https://tweetdeck.twitter.com by selecting “Try the new TweetDeck” in the bottom left menu,” X said.

“In 30 days, users must be Verified to access TweetDeck,” the company added.

We have just launched a new, improved version of TweetDeck. All users can continue to access their saved searches & workflows via https://t.co/2WwL3hNVR2 by selecting "Try the new TweetDeck" in the bottom left menu.

Some notes on getting started and the future of the product_

— Support (@Support) July 3, 2023

Purchasing a subscription via a web browser will cost Indian users Rs 650 a month or Rs 6,800 when billed annually. Users will also need to verify their phone numbers to get access to the dashboard along with other benefits. On top of the dashboard, some of the other benefits of the Blue subscription service include the ability to post longer content including text and video posts, fewer ads, and having their content being pushed more.