Twitter is shutting down this app after just 6 months

Twitter is shutting down its business-focused Dashboard tool just six months after its launch.

The company announced the closure on the app's Twitter page on Tuesday with little explanation.

The app was intended to help businesses more easily manage and track tweets with features like scheduling, copy suggestions and keyword monitoring. It was seen as a bid to compete with similar services like Hootsuite and Facebook Mentions.

The company said in its announcement that it hopes to fold some of those features into Twitter's broader interface.

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A Twitter spokesperson wouldn't comment on what parts would be salvaged or why the app was being shuttered.

Twitter still offers a similar app called Engage, which is geared towards individual influencers rather than brands and was rolled out around the same time as Dashboard.

It's possible that Dashboard never achieved the widespread use that Twitter hoped it would. The app ranked at a relatively low number 432 on tracking firm App Annie's list of the App Store's most-downloaded "business" offerings.

The market for the app was also fairly narrow. Since most major brands already use more advanced tools for handling social media marketing and customer service -- some of them offered through Twitter's partnership program -- Dashboard was more for small and medium-sized businesses.

A company spokesperson directed brands who might have relied on the service to try Twitter's TweetDeck program as a possible alternative.

The Dashboard app will officially end in early February.