Tweets no longer allowed to be posted on LinkedIn

Twitter developing own tools, like Twitter Cards, and doesn't want third parties copying content

Less than three years after Twitter and LinkedIn partnered up, it seems that Twitter has finally hadenough of LinkedIn using Twitter content to get users on its site.

Twitter posts will no longer appear on LinkedIn profiles, Ryan Roslansky, Head of Content Products at LinkedIn, wrote in a blog post on Friday.

“LinkedIn and Twitter have worked together since 2009 to enable the sharing of professional conversations on both platforms. Since this relationship began, some of you chose to sync your LinkedIn and Twitter accounts to share your professional content, knowledge and expertise.

As Twitter shared earlier today in a blog post from Michael Sippey, they are increasingly focused on ‘providing the core Twitter consumption experience through a consistent set of products and tools.’ Consistent with Twitter’s evolving platform efforts, Tweets will no longer be displayed on LinkedIn starting later today.”

Sippey’s post does not say anything specifically about LinkedIn, or any other platform for that matter. Instead it made the larger points about where Twitter wants to go, including an increased focused on “building tools that make it easy for developers to build common Twitter features into their own sites in a simple and consistent way.”

These tools include Twitter Cards, which allow users to attach "cards" to their tweets that will display content such as headlines, photos, and articles from around the web.

“We’re building tools for publishers and investing more and more in our own apps to ensure that you have a great experience everywhere you experience Twitter, no matter what device you’re using.”

Translation: Twitters is trying to bring in more users by enhancing the experience, and it does not want other parties, such as LinkedIn, infringing on that by copying their content. 

Ryan Sarver, Director of Platform at Twitter, made this point even clearer in a post last year, when he said that that Twitter would not be tolerating anyone copying what they were doing. 

“Developers have told us that they’d like more guidance from us about the best opportunities to build on Twitter.  More specifically, developers ask us if they should build client apps that mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience. The answer is no," Sarver said.

"If you are an existing developer of client apps, you can continue to serve your user base, but we will be holding you to high standards to ensure you do not violate users’ privacy, that you provide consistency in the user experience, and that you rigorously adhere to all areas of our Terms of Service.”

Even though Tweets will no longer be displayed on LinkedIn, the company does give its users some advice about how to get around this new development.

“Initiate the conversation on LinkedIn. Simply compose your update, check the box with the Twitter icon, and click ‘Share.’ This will automatically push your update to both your LinkedIn connections and your Twitter followers just as you’ve been able to do previously,” Roslansky wrote.

“We know many of you value Twitter as an additional way to broadcast professional content beyond your LinkedIn connections. Moving forward, you will still be able to share your updates with your Twitter audience by posting them on LinkedIn.”