Category: Technology Author : Steven Hodson Posted: May 2, 2009
Tags : Facebook, seesmic, seesmic desktop, Twhirl, Twitter
Some have suggested that with Facebook opening up and SPI for developers that they are changing the game. That maybe the case but Seesmic Desktop, the next generation version of Twhirl, just dropped version 0.2RC on their testers with support for Facebook baked into it. I still have a few bones of contention with Seesmic Desktop (more on than further down) but if Seesmic polishes this up the right way it definitely is going to have an impact on both Twitter and Facebook.
As you can see from the screen capture above once I added my Facebook account to Seesmic Desktop I was able to post from the application to Facebook. As well, the current default Home display will show posts from both Twitter and Facebook in the same timeline. I did a test of posting to my Facebook account from Seesmic Desktop, after switching the “SHARE as” to show my Facebook account, and it worked fine.
The only thing I have found is you can’t reply yet to someone who has posted in your Facebook timeline. I’m still playing with it so there still might be things I haven’t found yet.
Now as for some of my problems with this build. Well, the biggest one really is that you still can’t resize the left most column so everything still looks squished together. The one other thing I would like to see now that it supports Facebook is some way to differentiate between Twitter messages and Facebook messages.
As it stands right now they share the same color scheme and it can be confusing as to which message is coming from which service at a quick glance. Yes, you can try and read the small text at the bottom of each message but having a different color option would make it much easy to tell at a glance.
I’m tempted to start using Seesmic Desktop fulltime but the ‘squished’ feeling of the main timeline display is rather irritating. Other than that this release with Facebook integration is looking pretty good and I know that it will excite a lot of folks to see the support for Facebook.
Keep it up guys, you’re getting close to fulltime usage, for me at least.
![[VIDEO] Sony shows off first NGP game footage](http://www.inquisitr.com/wp-content/2011/02/sony-ngp-debut-game-footage-100x100.jpg)
May 2, 2009
Steve, what's the future for all these clients, how will they make money, if any, all a bit of a joke isn't it?
May 2, 2009
Oh I definitely agree with you Nigella – the big question is going to be one of making money. VC dollars will only go so far.
May 2, 2009
Call me naive, but I still don't see the need for applications like these.
I'll agree that this is a step above the usual Adobe AIR-built crap for Twitter that simply moves the Twitter data onto a non-browser platform, but… why can't you just check your Facebook for Facebook? They already have a great UI for status', status comments, and the wall-to-wall conversations.
I'm not a Twitter fan, but I still would argue that the “value” (can 0 be greater than 0?
) of moving Twitter from the browser to the desktop is negligible.
Unless I'm missing something, it's like… moving ice cream from the dish to on top of a folded waffle, just because you can. Some people think it's groundbreaking, but it's still just god damn ice cream.
–Kyle
p.s. Nigella has the right idea with the “bit of a joke”!
May 2, 2009
because not everyone likes using web based interfaces. I know myself I will take a well designed, and useful, desktop UI for a service over any web based one. The only time I even see the Twitter page is when I click through on a notification to see what the person is all about. As for the Facebook UI half of it is useless fluff that I can't make heads or tails out of. I don't use any of the apps so they aren't a drawing card. Web based interfaces are the end all be all Kyle.
May 2, 2009
Hrm…I'm probably still going to just use Tweetvisor or something and save my resources for something more useful…
May 2, 2009
well I went back to using Twhirl for now but I'll see what each update brings.
May 2, 2009
Well I wasn't exactly saying that either service has a perfect UI, even though I think Facebook handles things rather nicely…
What I was getting at was more of why the need for these apps? I the of “web vs. desktop”, especially as I've become more and more “Web 2.0 Jaded”, but I feel like these sort of apps are reinventing the wheel without a purpose.
Some desktop apps I could imagine as being useful. Like when Google provided a GTalk app as well as the Gmail interface, before it was widely available via other clients like Pidgin.
But in this case we're talking about a *web* service living on the desktop… being developed *outside* of the respective companies… and being dependent on a flimsy, not-well-thought-out API.
Maybe it's because I don't see value in Twitter to begin with, and I love Facebook (except the newly redesigned “home feed”, of course). It just sort of appears… futile to me. Like trying to pit Solaris against Windows in the consumer OS world… you're always going to be at least one step behind, and never truly making progress or profit.
–Kyle
May 5, 2009
The new Seesmic Desktop is just Tweetdeck with a facelift.
http://www.rajtilak.net/2009/05/seesmic-desktop…