Tweets will no longer cross-post to LinkedIn

2 Jul 2012

In a move by Twitter to provide a ‘core consumption experience’, users will no longer be able to sync their tweets to their LinkedIn accounts. However, the reverse (sending LinkedIn updates to Twitter) is still operational.

Rolled out on Friday, tweets will now no longer be display on LinkedIn profiles, but users that start the conversation on LinkedIn as opposed to Twitter can still cross-post by checking the box beside the Twitter icon when sending a LinkedIn status update, as has long been the case.

The reasoning behind Twitter’s decision to end a two-and-a-half year partnership with the social network is not clear. A vague blog post from Michael Sippey, group product manager, makes reference to “the increasing importance of us providing the core Twitter consumption experience through a consistent set of products and tools” and cites a previous post by his colleague Ryan Sarver that stated developers should not “build client apps that mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience.”

This has led to the decision to enforce stricter guidelines on how the Twitter API is used. So, while Twitter has created an app for Facebook that enables cross-posting, the microblogging service is not happy for LinkedIn to display tweets on its site.

LinkedIn’s password breach last month and Twitter’s drive for advertising revenue could be reasons for the break-up, but, in the case of the latter, the fact that LinkedIn still allows users to cross-post will perhaps do them more favours and drive users away from Twitter.com, and its advertising.

Social networking image via Shutterstock

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com