This is interesting, in a couple of ways. Today, Twitter has announced a new ‘Twitter Toolbox’ hub, where it will highlight helpful, reliable Twitter analytics and creation tools to help maximize your Twitter marketing and growth process.

The new Toolbox is split into three segments: Expression tools, Safety Tools and Measurement Tools. For marketers, the measurement element is likely of most interest, with a range of Twitter analytics apps to offer more insight into your tweet performance.

Those are some great tools, while the expression element also highlights some handy tweet composition and scheduling options.

I’ve used most of these tools at one time or another, and all of them have their purpose, and are worth spending some time with to see what you can get out of them.

But at the same time, I still find it a bit strange that Twitter’s promoting third-party apps for functions that it could actually build into its own native features.

Just last week, I noted that if Twitter really wanted to make money out of subscriptions - ala Twitter Blue - then it might be better off targeting business users, by creating a package of improved, native Twitter analytics tools and scheduling features, essentially building on TweetDeck, which it could make available for a monthly fee.

Twitter scaled back its analytics tools in 2020, with the removal of its Audience Insights element, and it hasn’t added any alternative data options since, while it's also working on a new version of TweetDeck. Providing more in-depth analytics options for tweets would be of value, especially as the data would be coming direct from Twitter itself, as opposed to being filtered through a third-party tool – which, to me, makes this new Toolbox announcement, in my view, a little confusing.

Why re-direct users to third-party apps when you could just build these tools yourself, then charge for access? Most of these apps operate on a freemium model, so they’re charging for access to your data. Why not set up your own, native dashboard of the same features as another potential revenue stream?

Of course, Twitter also wants to maintain connection with the developer community, and there is value in essentially partnering with these platforms to build better analytics options, and help more businesses users get more out of their Twitter process.

But it just seems like an obvious opportunity - if Twitter’s looking at subscription models anyway, why not give marketers even more insight into tweet performance and audience data as a paid tool?

I guess an updated Twitter Analytics/TweetDeck may still be on the cards at some stage, but until then, you have this new hub to highlight Twitter apps that Twitter itself effectively endorses as valuable and reliable, with each farming direct off of its own API.

And they are valuable tools, which could change the game for your tweet strategy.

You can check out the full overviews of each app in the new Toolbox here.