I’ve been using Twitter since its conception around two years ago (shameless plug: follow me, @askmarc) although admittedly I didn’t really get it until early this year. I did however quickly catch on to the need for a desktop client to maximise my use of the service and my weapon of choice has always been Twhirl.
Recently though I have noticed a large contingent of people I follow have switched to something called TweetDeck so I decided to check it out.
The Good the Bad and The…Still In Beta
Both applications are based on Adobe’s Air platform and so will run on a Mac or PC (with a little bit of extra work they can even be installed on Linux).
When I first launched TweetDeck I immediately noticed the following; things I’m missing from Twhirl:
- The ability to click anywhere on a Tweet to mark it as read
- The mini pop-up displaying the Tweet’s content
- (Unless I’m missing the obvious) The ability to monitor and use multiple accounts simultaenously, including other services such as FriendFeed, Seesmic etc.
The first item is a real pain; having to click on a tiny white dot to mark a Tweet as read is wholly contrary to what I am used to with Twhirl. Even after a few days of use I still find myself wondering why the “clear read tweets” button doesn’t work. On a positive note I am getting used to clicking the mark all tweets as read button beforehand.
I must admit I am finding TweetDeck’s notifications to be totally lacklustre and useless compared to Twhirl’s.
As you can see from the screenshot, it is a rather bland notification that merely informs you that you’ve received new Tweets.
Contrast that with Twhirl’s notification that tells you immediately who the Tweet is from including the message itself. Far more useful in my opinion, although some would say too much information is counter-productive to usability.
problogger's excellent timing!
The third item on the list is probably what is keeping Twhirl alive for me. I actually have two Twitter accounts – one was the account I originally set up with to check Twitter out (and continue to use for things not related to askMarc). As such I have Twhirl set up to log me in to both accounts and can tweet independently of each other. In addition I recently added my FriendFeed account.
Having said all that it wasn’t long before I found several things I like about TweetDeck:
- The Group button. I cannot overstate how useful it is to be able to organise your “followings” into groups
- A column just for Twitscoop – incredibly useful!
Conclusion
TweetDeck is relatively young compared to Twhirl but is already showing signs that it is the desktop client of choice for Twitterers that follow a large number of people. The ability to organise your incoming tweets into groups is incredibly useful and makes life easier. On the downside the (apparent) lack of multiple account functionality is a major let down for me.
So for now I’m going to be running both side by side.
Other Tools For Twittering
Of course Twhirl and TweetDeck aren’t the only options available. The following is a short list of other applications that you can use to Twitter with.
- For Mac lovers, Twitterific is a very popular choice
- TwitterTools is a nifty WordPress plugin that allows you to link your blog with your Twitter account.
- The old fashioned way of using the Twitter site is still very popular
- You can also use your mobile phone!
So what do you think of Twhirl and/or TweetDeck? Do you use something else? Please share your tips and experiences in the comments.
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