Starting on April 25th, Microsoft’s Digital Marketing Center’s Smart Campaigns with Multi-platform tool will no longer support Twitter, as reported by Mashable. This means that advertisers using Microsoft’s social media management tool will no longer be able to access Twitter on their dashboard. The decision comes a month after Twitter revealed the cost of accessing its API, with enterprise customers reportedly having to pay at least $42,000 a month.
Microsoft has opted to drop Twitter instead of paying the high costs associated with accessing its API. This decision will mean that advertisers using Microsoft’s tool will not be able to create, manage or schedule draft tweets, nor will they be able to view past tweets and engagements. Microsoft stated that other social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn will still be available.
Following Microsoft’s announcement, Elon Musk, Twitter’s owner, responded to a tweet about the decision, threatening to take legal action against the company, alleging that they illegally trained using Twitter data. However, it remains unclear how Microsoft could have illegally trained using Twitter data, and whether Musk’s threat will actually lead to a lawsuit.
This decision comes at a challenging time for Twitter, as it has been steadily losing advertisers since Musk’s takeover. According to digital marketing analysis firm Pathmatics by Sensor Tower, less than half of its top 1,000 advertisers spent money on ads in January. Microsoft’s move to drop Twitter from its social media management tool may add to Twitter’s challenges, as it struggles to retain advertisers amidst rising competition from other social media platforms.
