A significant part of the Triple J social media presence has shut down, with Triple J Plays tweeting its last tweet.
“After more than a million tweets sharing the tracks + artists we play, we have to say bye to @triplejplays,” the account posted on Wednesday.
“This is unfortunately due to Twitter moving to a paid model for automated services. To see what we’re playing, head to the triple j app or site.”
The dedicated Twitter account functioned as real-time tracker of all the songs the public broadcaster station played, complete with a time stamp so people were able to find out exactly which song they had been vibing to whilst in the car.
Whilst Triple J Plays has officially announced its closure, it appears to have been disconnected for a while, with the last song it listed – Alex Lahey’s Good Time – being posted on June 24.
On Wednesday’s Hobba and Hing drive show, the pair gave a glimpse into what has been going on behind the scenes
“At the start of every show you, check it to make sure it’s working,” said Lewis Hobba on air.
“Every day this week you’ve [co-host Michael Hing] gone ‘Triple J Plays isn’t working.’ the implication of that being that I haven’t pressed the button. Every time I’ve said ‘well, I’ve pressed the button, I’ve done everything I could possibly do to make that work’, I could tell there was something in your eyes that said ‘I don’t believe you, you didn’t press the button and you’re doing it now,’ but now we’ve found out that I was right the whole time!”
“Basically, what happened is Twitter wants to charge for the service and the ABC I either can’t afford it or isn’t going to pay for it,” continued Hing. “I think they probably could, but I actually am with them on this. I don’t think you want to be giving any more money to that to that platform.”
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