Its official! – Twitter acquires Tweetdeck for $ 40 million

Last week, in the world of social media, the big announcement was the news that Twitter had paid $40 million in cash and stock for Tweetdeck, winning a bidding war with rival UberMedia, the Financial Times reported. Tweetdeck is a UK based startup that helps people read, write and organise the short messages posted on the online network. Tweetdeck has 15 employees and will continue to be based in London where it is currently based.

Founded three years ago, Tweetdeck revolutionized social media management by allowing users to organise brands, celebrities and people they follow on social media platform. In addition, users can also monitor their Facebook, Linkedin and other similar social media accounts.  For people interested in internet marketing, this was a major development.  

What apparently started off as ‘advanced talks’ between the two firms for over a month cumulated into an outright purchase by Twitter. Ubermedia, which calls itself “the world’s leading Twitter app”, was also apparently interested.

More than 20 million users have apparently downloaded Tweetdeck since it was launched three years ago. The platform accounts for as much as 10 % of all tweets made in real time. What is unclear though, is how Twitter will monetise the 20 million tweets from Tweetdeck every day. Perhaps some of Tweetdeck’s heavy users will be willing to pay to use a few of its services. Of late, Twitter has been busy trying to identify and acquire successful third party applications related to its own platform.

The acquisition, however, marks the increasing acceptance of London’s ‘Silicon Roundabout’, a cluster of internet start-ups in East London that is expected to rival California’s Silicon Valley. Some of the Silion Roundabout’s early hits included dopplr – the travel site and last.fm. The UK Government has been highly supportive of the idea of London’s very own high tech area. The Government’s proposals to support the growth of this area include: providing entrepreneurs’ visas to make it easier to hire the best talent from around the world, strengthening intellectual property laws to make it easier to create new digital services, providing faster broadband connectivity, financial advice from large banks and greater internet protocol protection for start-ups. 

The future of the UK digital market will therefore be an interesting debate over the coming years.  Pipon Solutions invites you to share your thoughts on this latest acquisition and London’s Silicon Roundabout.