Twitter buys British with TweetDeck acquisition

Twitter has confirmed long-rumoured reports that it is buying TweetDeck, the UK-based developer of Twitter client software.

TweetDeck was set up by London developer Iain Dodsworth as a way to better organise his Twitter feeds. It is one of the most popular Twitter clients, and is rumoured to have been valued at over $40m under the terms of the deal.

"This acquisition is an important step forward for us. TweetDeck provides brands, publishers, marketers and others with a powerful platform to track all the real-time conversations they care about," said Twitter spokesperson Jodi Olson.

"In order to support this important constituency, we will continue to invest in the TweetDeck that users know and love."

Twitter has said that it is not planning any significant changes to TweetDeck, and will add new features as they are developed.

Dodsworth said that the past three years had been very exciting, and that he is looking forward to working with the new owners.

"The mainstream Twitter user base is well catered for by Twitter and the official mobile clients," he said on the TweetDeck blog.

"And by becoming part of the official platform, TweetDeck will now fill that role for brands, influencers, the highly active and anyone that just needs 'more power'."