Twitter Kills Off Tweetdeck’s Deck.ly

Today the next web reported that TweetDeck has updated its applications across all platforms and the death of Deck.ly will come as a result.

The next web went on to say :

“The fate of Deck.ly itself, it seems, is a bit up in the air. It would makes sense that Twitter would keep Deck.ly around for posterity’s sake, even if it isn’t included in TweetDeck itself. You’ll notice that the tweet states that “we’re removing deck.ly from our apps”, which leaves the door wide open for the site to remain in place.”

However, if you go deck.ly you’ll see the site now completely redirects to Tweetdeck, so it seems it’s been killed off in one fell swoop.

What Does This Mean For Long Form Integrations?

Developers know that they need to watch Twitter’s moves very closely. Is this the first step to banning any long form integration of any kind? Where does this leave Twitlonger, the originator of the 140+ tweet?  When Tweetdeck launched deck.ly, only in January of this year, Iain Dodsworth, founder and CEO of Tweetdeck said:

“What we’re doing here first and foremost is delivering on the most requested feature we’ve ever had. Our users want to post messages over 140 characters and this is one feature we thought we should build ourselves. I don’t see how this would draw anyone away from Twitter, it value adds Twitter – something we’ve been doing since day one.”

First Casualty Or Just Consistence?

When Tweetdeck was purchased earlier this summer we knew there would be some changes. Many posited that it wouldn’t be long before the service became completely “Twitterized.”

It’s understandable that Twitter would want all their owned apps to be consistent. Deck.ly is the first casualty, but is there likely to be more? What about Tweetdeck’s integration with Facebook and Linkedin?

What Do You Think?

We’ll have to watch and see how it all unfolds. But what do you think? Is tweeting over 140 characters becoming a necessary reality of doing business on Twitter? Should apps like Ubersocial continue to support long form tweeting? Should apps like MarketMeSuite take this opportunity to adopt a long form? Or should we all honor the 140 characters that makes tweeting different than posting anywhere else?