The American social networking site Twitter could be planning to buy the Tweetdeck application.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Tweetdeck's British founder, Ian Dodsworth, could sell his company to the micro-blogging giant for over $50m (£31m). Dodsworth has so far remained silent about the possibility of any such deal.

Tweetdeck is an internet application very popular amongst Twitter's regular users. It allows them to manage multiple accounts on the social networking site, to which it is closely linked.

The rumour of a sale follows statements by Twitter's founder, Biz Stone, explaining that the company would be making strategic acquisitions. The micro-blogging site currently boasts over 200 million users and is expected to earn close to $150m (£91m) this year.