Twitter TweetDeck Revamp: Potential Subscription Service

TweetDeck Revamp: Testing New Features and Potential Subscription Model

Twitter has initiated testing of a new feature set for TweetDeck, its social media dashboard primarily utilized by dedicated users. This update may eventually lead to TweetDeck becoming a paid subscription service.

New Features in the Updated TweetDeck

According to Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter’s Product Lead, the redesigned client will feature a comprehensive tweet composer, enhanced advanced search capabilities, and novel column types. Users will also gain the ability to organize columns into customized workspaces.

Previously, Beykpour indicated Twitter’s intention to significantly overhaul TweetDeck, admitting a period of neglect. He described the planned revamp as a “pretty big overhaul from the ground up.”

The updated tweet composer will now support the inclusion of GIFs, polls, and emojis in tweets, including scheduled posts, expanding beyond simple photo and video sharing. Users can also create threaded tweets and tag images directly.

Column Updates and Advanced Search

In addition to existing column options, new column types such as Profile, Topics, Explore, Events, Moments, and Bookmarks are being introduced. However, this expansion has resulted in the removal of columns like Activity, Followers, Likes, and Outbox.

The advanced search functionality now supports Boolean queries. Users can also choose to view tweets sorted by either popularity (top tweets) or recency (latest tweets).

Introducing "Decks" for Enhanced Organization

A particularly innovative addition is the “Decks” feature, allowing users to group columns into distinct workspaces. This is beneficial for managing different themes, interests, or, for social media professionals, multiple client accounts.

Initial User Feedback and Concerns

Early feedback from testers has been mixed. Many users expressed disappointment over the removal of the “Activity” column, which displayed interactions like favorites and follows. The absence of a dedicated messages column was also noted.

Complaints also centered around the default timeline view prioritizing top tweets over recent ones, the lack of a direct message column, and the removal of collections. Some users found column resizing difficult and reported issues with multi-account usage.

Visual Discrepancies and Clarifications

Initial screenshots of the update showcased a drastically different interface with wide columns and large images, potentially compromising the information-dense experience preferred by TweetDeck users.

However, a subsequent screenshot from Twitter employee Eric Zuckerman revealed a version more aligned with the existing app, featuring tighter columns, smaller images, and a smaller font size.

Shared Infrastructure and Future Development

Twitter clarified that the changes are not solely about visual alignment with Twitter.com. The goal is to establish a shared infrastructure for implementing health and safety updates and enabling developers to focus on new features and user feedback.

Testing and Subscription Potential

The updated TweetDeck is currently being rolled out to a limited group of randomly selected users in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Twitter has stated it will actively solicit and respond to user feedback.

The company is exploring the possibility of incorporating TweetDeck into its subscription offerings. A Twitter spokesperson confirmed they are gathering feedback to assess the potential for an enhanced, subscription-based version of TweetDeck.

“With this test, we hope to gather feedback to explore what an enhanced version of TweetDeck could look like within Twitter’s subscription offerings later on,” the spokesperson stated.