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.

Seesmic Desktop drops new build with Facebook support is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Twitter application market is booming at the moment off the back of Twitter’s phenomenal growth this year. Seesmic launched Seesmic Desktop yesterday (the new Twhirl), delivering multi-account access to a multi-column client. TweetDeck is out with a new version that promises to have fixed its memory issues, and adds some extra features for good measure. Mac client Nambu is starting to get a lot of attention, and rightly so, it’s quick and offers a non-Ajax alternative. CoTweet doesn’t offer a desktop client yet, but brings CRM to Twitter, marking a significant step forward in the Twitter landscape.

This post was going to start out as a Twitter client review, but Rafe Needleman wrote the post I would have written at CNet yesterday, give or take a few things I would have covered differently (read it here.) The choice we have in Twitter clients has never been better, and yet none are perfect.

The feature problem

The differences between each client come down to features, with no client offering the lot. TweetDeck may have popularized the multi-column layout, but its feature set is also the richest on the market. This may seem like a small thing, and it’s a personal preference, but the feature I love the most on TweetDeck is TweetShrink. This one button allows you to automatically shrink a Tweet that has gone over the character limit. And yet TweetDeck doesn’t support multiple Twitter accounts and a range of other services (although it does support 12seconds and Facebook.) Seesmic Desktop rocks with multiple Twitter account support, although doesn’t support other services yet (Twhirl did, and we’re told these are coming.) Seesmic Desktop doesn’t offer the variety of additional Twitter tools TweetDeck does, although does offer image capture by webcam (a nice touch.) Nambu seems to be more a front for URL shortening and picture hosting services owned by the company that wrote it, and you’re locked in. DestroyTwitter, another smart multi-column Twitter client supports skinning, a feature the other clients simply don’t offer.

It’s unreasonable to expect that the creators of each Twitter client could and should offer every single imaginable feature, even beyond the constraint that for most, there’s little to no business model/ revenue from these clients (at least yet.)

But there is an army of people out there who given a platform could provide these features.

Open Twitter client

The solution to the feature problem is an open Twitter client. A Twitter platform might not be the right description, but it goes close.

This Twitter client would offer support for plugins or extensions is a similar way that Firefox does. Users could create plugins that add features to the client. For example, a plugin that added Identi.ca support to TweetDeck, TweetShrink to Seesmic Desktop, or even Flickr image uploading to Nambu. If you get the ground work right, the only limitation is the technical constraints and imagination of your users.

There may be programing issues in offering an open platform in Ajax, for example I don’t recall ever seeing an Ajax program offer plugins, although DestroyTwitter offers skins, suggesting that there is a way to bring in additional content/ services. Nambu is OS X native, so plugin support is possible.

Encouraging competition

As mentioned above, Nambu suffers from lock-in to services owned by the same people who wrote the client. The new version of TweetDeck has actually reduced the options of URL shortening. Most services only offer TwitPic for image uploading. As we increase the diversity of Twitter clients, we’re actually seeing a consolidation in the tie-ins to related services.

An open Twitter client would allow competing services to write their own plugins, giving users a true choice within the client. For example, I’d love to be able to link in to Skitch for images in my Twitter client at the push of a button or two, as opposed to the current need to upload, visit the site, grab the URL, then paste it in. There are a range of 3rd party stats sites now that would make nice value adds; TweetDeck offers Twitscoop, but imagine other services, complete with search (Tweetstats or similar sites.)

This isn’t to say that a service like TwitPic aren’t worthy (it’s a great service) but lock-in reduces competition, and reduced competition usually results in slower innovation. It’s in the communities interest for there to be a vibrant set of related tools accessible via their Twitter client.

Conclusion

The idea of an open Twitter client may to some degree be a pipe dream. We may not see it upfront, but I’d bet that a lot of the services pushed in clients like TweetDeck now aren’t offered from the goodness of the heart, but through business relationships which may or may not include money; if they don’t include money now, they likely soon will, because these 3rd party tools want users, and a button in a Twitter client can possibly deliver users by the million.

On alternative is to go open source, although that may be stretch, but likewise is not impossible.

Delivering an open Twitter client done right could end up being a selling point that defines the client in a sea of competition. Imagine a TweetDeck or Seesmic Desktop with hundreds of plugins and theme options which you can pick and choose from, vs an existing client with a limited range of value adds. That’s got to be an appealing selling point, if someone is willing to take it on.

Why we need an open access Twitter client is a post from: The Inquisitr

TweetDeck v0.25 will see a few new fixes and features as well, including improvements to the program’s performance that’ll resolve some memory issues experienced in previous versions. It’ll also allow for viewing of TwitPic images within the interface and previewing of shortened URLs before you click on them. Be warned, too: There’s a flashy new yellow icon that may catch you off-guard.

The release comes right as Seesmic is unveiling its new Twhirl alternative, Seesmic Desktop — an AIR-powered application that looks curiously like TweetDeck. Seesmic Desktop introduces multiple columns with multiple group support. It also boasts the ability to manage multiple Twitter accounts and to drag-and-drop or even pop-out any columns within the window. Facebook, Digg, and Ping.FM support are all expected to be built-in eventually.

The race, it seems, is getting tighter. The stats vary depending on where you look, but most metrics services agree that TweetDeck is by far the dominant choice when it comes to third-party Twitter applications. Seesmic’s new update could give it a stronger chance at stealing some of those users away, but TweetDeck’s fast-moving, feature-adding progress certainly won’t make it easy.

TweetDeck Releases New Version; Seesmic Releases New Product is a post from: The Inquisitr

The new version of Twhirl, now known as Seesmic Desktop, was launched in San Francisco this evening and takes the good fight to popular Twitter client TweetDeck.

Seesmic Desktop is a complete code rewrite, delivering a fresh user experience and feature set. Included in the new version is multiple column and single app support (with Twhirl you had separate windows.) The defining point in the release is the ability to group multiple sources into one central stream, including multiple Twitter accounts. For example, you can blend your Identi.ca and Twitter streams in the one column/ view.

The new client also gets a user interface change, with the introduction of a side bar of navigation results.

We’d tell you more but the live stream failed about 10 minutes into the presentation, not exactly a positive omen. There’s also not a full list available at the time of writing about the additional features. From the choppy video which replaced the black fail screen, there was mention of recording from webcam, multiple image upload support (not sure if this was just Twitter related), and list/ search support similar to TweetDeck.

From what I have seen, it looks like a winner and will offer strong competition to TweetDeck. The multi-account and service support is a feature I’d use, so I’m looking forward to getting my hands on it.

To get Seesmic Desktop, sign up at desktop.seesmic.com and Seesmic will email you a download link when the client is released. No idea yet as to when it will be available. It’s now released. Downloading now.

Update: the preview release only supports Twitter. The other negative: it’s not pretty to look at.

Seesmic Desktop (Twhirl) takes the good fight to TweetDeck is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Discovery Engine: Next-Gen Twitter Search

The updated Discovery Engine/Twitter Search returns results right on your Twitter home page — putting them where your primary stream would typically appear — rather than placing them on a separate results page.

It also adds the intriguing ability to save a search and keep a dynamic box with its results on the side of your home page. You could, for example, add in a box to always show the latest tweets mentioning your name or your company name. The Discovery Engine will also bring the recently unveiled Trends feature to the home page sidebar.

The Reality of It

This definitely seems like a positive step toward making the Twitter home page more useful. At this point, though, it seems most regular tweeters do their business from a third-party client such as Twhirl or TweetDeck, so one has to wonder how much play the new functionality will actually get. Maybe eventually, the Twitter site itself will become robust enough that new users will stay within its confines rather than seek an API-powered alternative. Maybe.

In any case, the saved search concept is a good idea that could come in quite handy. For my purposes, I hope the gang over at TweetDeck looks at integrating a similar option soon, too.

Twitter Expands and Improves Search With New ‘Discovery Engine’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

Skimmer supports Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flick and Blogger, and includes the ability to view media inline, including videos, and to upload media to the same services.

The pitch reads as follows:

Skimmer is an Adobe AIR desktop application designed to streamline, beautify, and enhance the experience of participating in your most frequently used social networking activities. It improves upon your day-to-day interaction with multiple social networks, removing distractions and providing a rich experience that is particularly suited to multimedia content.

Looks are something Skimmer has in bucket loads; this is possibly one of the most beautiful looking AIR apps I’ve ever played with. But style doesn’t equate to substance, and visual porn doesn’t make it practical. The issues start from the beginning; to use Skimmer you have to register the app (why, we don’t know), and then confirm your various accounts. No matter how hard I tried, it wouldn’t accept Facebook, despite me confirming access with Facebook itself via a popup window. Flickr did work, but only after a couple of goes. Sometime later I accidentally closed Skimmer, and upon reopening it Facebook was working…but then my Twitter stream had disappeared, despite still showing up in the account list.

In use, it doesn’t get any better. You do have a variety of views, and you can shrink Skimmer down to a smaller view similar to most Twitter apps; but when you do shrink it down, you’re limited in features. In full view, you get some tools, but no where near close to Tweetdeck or Twhirl. Videos and images are also slow to load, if they load at all (some times they didn’t for me), so it may deliver them inline, but you could have easily visited the page directly in a quarter of the time.

If you’re looking for a pretty experience and don’t care about speed or extra features, Skimmer wins. For everyone else, don’t bother, at least yet. This is a first release, and it could improve with time.

(via Kineda)

Skimmer: social management that looks pretty, but not much else is a post from: The Inquisitr

He was gracious enough to sit down with me and chat on camera a bit about his news regarding the new Twhirl-like client for monitoring and updating Facebook status updates.

He covered a lot of the news and information you saw already in many of the reports about the product, including:

• Twhirl will be rebranding itself as Seesmic (they have a hard time as a small company maintaining two brands).
• That means you won’t be a Twhirl user any more, you’ll be a Seesmic user.
• They’re focusing almost half their staff on integrating the new Facebook client into the rest of the site experience.

In addition, he talked a bit about his expectations of how this might transform the usage of Facebook entirely. He hinted here and off-camera that this is the thrust of their focus, and they really want to position themselves as one of the primary ways to access Facebook.

I think, given the addictiveness of Twhirl and Twitter, I think it’s a safe bet.

We also caught up a bit, since the last time we spoke, he was on his way to go visit then-President Bush.  He’s since steered clear of politics, but commented on the bit of disappointment he feels when politicians engage greatly with social media tools during campaigns, but not during the governance.

Mark Rizzn Hopkins blogs a Rizzn.com and Silicon Angle.

Loic Lemeur Explains the Future of Seesmic [sxsw] is a post from: The Inquisitr

As Twitter continues to boom, so to does the market for 3rd party Twitter desktop clients. The once champ of the desktop Twitteriffic was replaced by Twhirl at the top of the popular list last year, but new comer Tweetdeck is now getting a lot of attention, and according to some reports in now the most popular Twitter desktop client.

I wasn’t a huge fan of Tweetdeck when it first launched, primarily due to its emphasis on a wide format. Tweetdeck is great if you’ve got a spare monitor to show it on, but was limited in its earlier versions by that constraint, vs Twhirl which sits neatly down the side of a monitor.

Given the recently flurry on interest in Tweetdeck, and a range of new features, I’ve taken a new look. Here’s a breakdown on each one compared. The use scenario is obviously my own, but the points will apply to others.

Layout/ Screen presence

As mentioned above, Tweetdeck is unique in offering a wide view of Twitter with dedicated columns for tweets, replies, direct messages and even more content like specific search terms.

Twhirl offers a single column layout that allows users to navigate by button, but replaces the view each time, so you can’t break them out.

The newer versions of Tweetdeck have improved view options, so you can now easily select a single column view, and scroll across to the other views.

Call: hard to split. If you’ve got the screen real estate and like seeing everything in front of you, Tweetdeck hands down. Twhirl is more compact though, so maybe slightly ahead if you’re constrained with viewing space.

Looks/ Aesthetics
Twhirl has always been an ugly application, and has only marginally improved with new releases. There is a degree of customization based on set theme, but the end result is brilliant to look at.

Tweetdeck is good looking out of the box, and head to head is easier to read and tweet. Customization includes the ability to set various colors, although unlike Twhirl is doesn’t allow for the font to be changed. If I had any criticism, it’s that the font in Tweetdeck is a little big, along with Tweet spacing, so you don’t get as many tweets in the same view as you’d get in Twhirl

Call: Tweetdeck. Visually pleasing, easier to read.

Supported features (Twitter)

Both Twhirl and Tweetdeck are now neck and neck on the supported Twitter features list after Twhirl added a range of extras in January.

Both share the ability to search Twitter and keep that search term in a list, although obviously Tweetdeck can offer it on screen next to regular tweets. Twhirl’s interface is cumbersome in comparison, with users have to go into search itself then click on the previously save search term/ list.

Both offer support for TwitPic, although Tweetdeck offers it more clearly as part of a Tweet (nice big button). Same for shortening URL’s, both offer it, but Tweetdeck presents a space where the URL requiring shortening can be placed, Twhirl requires yet another button for a pop up to obtain the same result.

Tweetdeck offers three additional Twitter related features not supported by Twhirl: a service call Tweetshrink, that allows a Tweet to be automatically shortened so it fits better, a translation button and the ability to recall recent hash tags. All are strong features and great selling points.

Tweetdeck though doesn’t support multiple Twitter account. Not a huge issue for most people, but if you run more than one account and use Twhirl to monitor them, you’ll miss the feature in Tweetdeck.

Call: Tweetdeck, but mostly because the features on Tweetdeck are easier to get at. I didn’t even realize Twhirl had Twitpic support until I went looking for it after noticing it on Tweetdeck.

Supported services (not Twitter related)

With its wide canvas offering plenty of space, you’d expect Tweetdeck to excel in external service support, but it doesn’t. Twhirl offers support for Identi.ca, Laconi.ca, FriendFeed and Seesmic, be it with a separate open window required for each. By comparison, TweetDeck offers support for 12seconds, although does offer both StockTwits and TwitScoop feeds (primarily one way Twitter data.)

Twhirl also has built in support for Ping.fm. A small feature perhaps, but one that allows users to broadcast their Tweets to a range of other services not supported directly by Twhirl itself.

Call: Twhirl hands down.

Miscellaneous

Tweetdeck doesn’t have an archive button that I can see, so there’s no easy one button to hit to bring up the previous tweets you’ve made. If you use Twitter a fair bit, sometimes you do need to see what you’ve sent when people reply at different times; for example, it’s not uncommon to see someone replying to a Tweet I’ve sent hours after I’ve sent it.

Tweetdeck doesn’t have built in throttling for a Twitter API, and even while writing this post, I was quickly running out of API requests (Tweetdeck actually displays how many you have left, and when your next reset is due). The default settings were also fairly high on Tweetdeck, so it can catch you out.

Tweetdeck also has an all or nothing on audio alerts, where as Twhirl can be set up to only play audio when you receive an @reply or DM. Having the audio on in Tweetdeck is annoying (it plays every refresh) and yet having it for DMs and @replies for me is a vital function, because I’m not constantly looking at the client, and will often only look when something comes in.

Overall
I’ve been running Tweetdeck on my laptop for a week, and Twhirl as usual on my desktop so I could fairly compare the two.

I love Twhirl (despite its looks), have all the time in the world for Loic Lemeur and Seesmic (Twhirl’s owners), but on the balance I’d say that today Tweetdeck is the better Twitter client.

The emphasis is key: If you’re looking for a client that allows you to follow and interact with multiple services, or even multiple Twitter accounts, Twhirl wins hands down. If you’re looking for a pure Twitter client that’s easy to read, use, and gives you a better view of a single Twitter account, it’s Tweetdeck.

I’m torn between switching though. I don’t use FriendFeed and Seesmic on Twhirl, and yet I do have more than one Twitter account. I love having Ping.fm support in Twhirl as it allows me to publish Tweets on Facebook, Plurk and other services, which often results in new conversations there. The audio on Tweetdeck isn’t good, and yet it’s so easy to read, easy to use. I might try switching for a short while and see how I go, and in the mean time try another way of getting Tweets onto Facebook (there is an app that does this for memory).

Tweetdeck vs Twhirl: It’s a very hard call is a post from: The Inquisitr

The next version of Twhirl, currently in preview release (so not yet available for download) adds a range of new features that brings the still popular Twitter client back into the ball game.

Top of the releases is the long waited support for recording Seesmic videos from the client. Seesmic viewing support was added last year, but the client was always limited; you could watch, but not respond in video. Recording a Seesmic video is as simple as hitting the record button.

Added to the Twitter part of Thwirl is support for Ping.fm. Users can now opt to send all Tweets out to other networks, such as MySpace, Facebook, Utterli, Kwippy and many more. There is potential here for duplication, so you need to make sure that you’re not sending out to services that may already be getting your tweets, for example, I took Facebook out of my Ping.fm account because I already import tweets there, likewise FriendFeed isn’t on the list because it imports by tweets.

Also included in the release is the ability to set up search tabs based on keywords, taking it into TweetDeck territory. Every search can be activated, and per the shot above right, appears as a tab.

Privately a number of users had expressed concern that perhaps Seesmic had dropped development of Twhirl after regular updates ceased in the second half of last year; others have switched to using TweetDeck and other clients. As a Twhirl user it’s great to see the updates, and this will deal Twhirl back into contention as a desktop Twitter client of choice.

New Twhirl Preview Release Adds Seesmic Recording, Ping.fm Support is a post from: The Inquisitr

Two news stories on the Seesmic front this week that we’re late in covering: Seesmic on Nokia phones, and a Twhirl update.

Seesmic is now available on Nokia N95 phones, the first time Seesmic has offered a cell phone client. With the client, Seesmic users are able to record and watch videos directly on their phones. Users can also use the client to reply to their friend’s videos and build a threaded conversation. To download, visit m.seesmic.com. Details also in the video above.

In a positive response to a challenge I laid down in July, Twhirl now supports any install of Laconi.ca, the open source client behind Identi.ca. The first user was Leo Laporte for his TWiT Army. It’s a logical an easy add on for Twhirl that will help encourage development on the Laconi.ca code base, and a big thumbs up to Loic and Seesmic team for doing it.

Seesmic Update: Nokia client, Twhirl update with Laconi.ca support is a post from: The Inquisitr

To use Identi.ca via Spaz, users must manually edit the preferences.json file, swapping twitter-api-base-url and twitter-base-url out for identi.ca/api. The genius though of the change: forward compatibility to any future microblogging platform that implements the Twitter API via two quick changes in a file, as opposed to having to go through the entire app and swap out API references.

Ping.fm support also requires edits to the preferences.json file. Needed to work: add to the services-pingfm-userappkey and enable services-pingfm-enabled.

I haven’t used Spaz for some time, and it’s become quite impressive, helped by an active development team. The service is multi-tabbed and features most of the extras lacking in most Twitter clients, but standard in Twhirl. One particularly nice feature is the ability to custom tweak the CSS layout.

Until such time Spaz makes Ping.fm and Identi.ca support easy, thousands won’t be flocking to use it, and Twhirl offers the easier choice of Identi.ca support. However, if you’re not afraid of a bit of coding and love the idea of an open source microblogging application, give Spaz a shot.

Spaz gets Identi.ca, Ping.fm support is a post from: The Inquisitr

The even more interesting thing about the implementation: Twhirl supports push updates from Identi.ca, negating the need for regular refreshing (although the client can refresh as well). However Rafe notes that the process isn’t as simple as it sounds, with Twhirl users having to log in to both Identi.ca and GTalk for the push to work.

I wrote the Friday that Identi.ca is moving at the speed of light, and it’s getting harder to keep up. Two days after implementing the Twitter API, and less than a week after offering its first API, Identi.ca is now supported by a major desktop client. And in case you’ve forgotten, Identi.ca is now only 17 days old!

You can grab the beta release of Twhirl with Identi.ca support here and note that you have to add GTalk support to both Identi.ca and Twhirl (after you add your Indenti.ca account details) for the push data to work, although push isn’t compulsory. Rafe has all the instructions on how to do it here.

Now if only Twhirl would implement tabs for users to flick between services as opposed to requiring a window for each opened service

Twhirl now supports Identi.ca is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Seesmic enabled “private” version of Twhirl has been updated, adding additional features, but sadly, no Seesmic recording yet.

Twhirl 0.8.3a adds support for the “active conversations” panel to show the same conversations as available on seesmic.com. The timeline now includes real-time updates of the public timeline, and the options dialog allows users to adjust some basic settings such as transparency, font face and size.

Loic’s full Seesmic video of the announcement above, and you can download the new “private” version of Twhirl here.

Seesmic enabled version of Twhirl updated is a post from: The Inquisitr

The new changes
- Individual user’s streams can now be displayed on separate tabs, meaning you can specifically follow any user in a tab (handy for when FF gets busy)
- Filters adapt to display information relevant to the current tab, for example you can filter via user as well
- Tabs are refreshed when the main page is refreshed.
- Tabs display the 30 most recent posts for a user.
- Flickr integration has been extended to allow taking snapshots with a webcam, and posting directly to flickr.

Also added since I last wrote about the app is built in support for the Google owned short message service Jaiku. Another thing I hadn’t noticed before was mouse over profile support on FriendFeed streams, so you can get links to each users blogs/ streams all from in the Feedalizer app. It even lists the users each person is subscribed to.

I’ve been playing with the release now for some time and I remain just as impressed with Feedalizer as I did when I first reviewed it, but now it has become even more handy. The Feedalizer team have combined good looks with a growing swiss army knife range of features. In built video recording, direct to Flickr photo taking, built in Jaiku support and support for posting to Twitter…it’s all there.

My gripes with Feedalizer are as they were before: the app is still a little fat in terms of width, and I’d like to be able to shrink it down. There’s still no inline support for Twitter, although with support for tabs you’d think that Twitter would be at least easier to implement. Even if you could say pull Twitter out of FriendFeed into a tab…something that would offer that sort of convenience. Overall though, it’s heading in the right direction and is already an appealing package. I don’t have the exact date for this release, but expect to see it in the next couple of weeks. When I find out the date I’ll let people know either here or on FriendFeed.

First Look at Feedalizr 1.1.4 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Seesmic CEO Loic Lemeur has announced that Seesmic is now available in a beta version of Twhirl (download here). Loic is quick to point out in the video above that this is a trial and the new version may have bugs.

Having downloaded it my initial thoughts: this liberates Seesmic. I’ve never been a huge fan of the until previously dark layout of the Seesmic website, but with Twhirl Seesmic becomes convenient and easily accessible. The down sides: the test version doesn’t support video recording (this is being worked on) and Seesmic in Twhirl opens in yet another window (Twitter and FriendFeed have separate windows as well). Maybe the French are allergic to tabbed interfaces? I’m not sure what the reason is but I know I don’t have any more screen space left for yet another window, no matter how convenient Twhirl is now as a Seesmic conduit.

Seesmic Now Available In Twhirl is a post from: The Inquisitr

The biggest change is how Twhirl renders FriendFeed entries. Gone are the days of Twhirl generating hard to read text and difficult to follow threads, replaced instead by a cleaner look, clearer fonts (at least the headlines are bolded) and easier to access and read user details.

The Twhirl Twitter client doesn’t miss out with new gradient backgrounds, although there appears to be no changes to the presentation of the text itself.

Other new features include support for FriendFeed rooms, an auto-throttle for Twitter API usage, the ability to hide old tweets and messages, a system status feed, and “many other fixes and enhancements.”

I’ve come to love Twhirl’s Twitter client over time, mostly due to it’s superior range of built in features (compared to other apps) but despite keeping the FriendFeed client opened I’d reverted to interacting with FriendFeed nearly exclusively via the website. The new looks are immediately appealing, and although I won’t be abandoning the website, I can see myself starting to use Twhirl for FriendFeed again more often. Definitely a positive step forward.

Twhirl Gets a Fresh Coat of Paint is a post from: The Inquisitr

I’ve touched previously on some of my thoughts as to the features FriendFeed could add, but here’s my entire wish list. These aren’t exclusively actionable by FriendFeed themselves so includes items that relate to the way 3rd parties interact with FriendFeed as well.

Custom Tabs

I imported all my Twitter contacts into FriendFeed the other day and ever since I’ve been a little swamped by Twitter comments as opposed to other streams in the FriendFeed collective. One person suggested that I should filter all Tweets out, but I have no desire to do so because unlike Twitter FriendFeed gives me a reliable archive of Tweets, and it’s a decent Twitter client as well.

My proposal is custom tabs. A FriendFeed user could decide to filter exclusively or for sorting purposes various inputs. In my case I could say I want all Tweets to go into an exclusive tab but they are excluded from my main friends tab. This way I can switch across to tweets whenever I wanted to. Perhaps a separate option might place Tweets back in my main Friends tab only when there is a FriendFeed discussion underneath each Tweet (as is often the case).

But lets extend the idea further: a user could set up tabs for any content, say every Digg from their friends, Tumblr entry, or combination’s there-in, and this could be exclusive to the tab or inclusive, serving as a content filter if you like.

Take it another step further: custom word searches (not unlike Google News alerts) based on tabs. Say I wanted a vanity search based on anyone mentioning me on FriendFeed, or if I was a company monitoring FriendFeed mentions. The search facility is already there, it could easily be extended to a custom tab.

Disqus FriendFeed Integration

This is a topic that has been discussed extensively over the last 24-48 hours and I think it’s a great idea. I’m already using Glenn Slaven’s excellent WordPress FriendFeed plugin here at The Inquisitr, but imagine a world where Disqus and FriendFeed comments are one instead of two separate comment threads. Lets hope this happens.

A better integrated Twitter/ FriendFeed client

I’ve written about the various clients in this space twice recently, but I still find myself unhappy with the various offerings. I’ve switched back to using Twhirl after some time using MySocial’s AIR client. I find myself using FriendFeed primarily via the website because the Twhirl FriendFeed experience is awful…I’ll be typing then lose everything I’ve written, it looks and feels clunky. And yet, Twhirl has the most features both for FriendFeed but more importantly for Twitter. There are better looking clients, but for some strange reason great aesthetics seems to equate with feature fail in the emerging FriendFeed client space. I want something that looks like and is as easy to use as Feedalizer or MySocial but is easily sizable (Feedalizer is fat) and has the depth of features that Twhirl has.

Twitter killing/ short message service

I’ve written about this previously, and people seemed to think that I was saying that FriendFeed will kill Twitter. What I said is that FriendFeed should kill Twitter, and that they are the best placed to do so, however I did not say that what they are doing at the moment is in any way, shape or form a Twitter killer.

If FriendFeed offered a short message service built on top of their current platform (call it FF messages or something), that was offered to users as part of their FriendFeed experience, or as another tab (similar to the custom tab proposal above), with the ability for 3rd party clients to use the API to offer desktop or mobile solutions that only focused on that feature, we have a Twitter killer. The ONLY reason Twitter has maintained its position today is community, something that Pownce and Jaiku never had, despite both (arguably) having better platforms. And lets face it, Twitter didn’t get to where it was today due to its ability to deliver a reliable service. FriendFeed already has the community with a lot of cross-over with Twitter, and many Twitter users would happily dump Twitter for another product if they knew that the alternative already included most, if not all of their existing contacts/ community. It’s a market and space that is ripe for the taking.

Start Page/ Widgets

This idea is a little out of left field, but I’ve been spending a bit of time on Netvibes lately and it seems to struggle in my mind as a standalone idea (at least for me). If we could do custom tabs, perhaps FriendFeed could start offering a start page service complete with support for widgets. Imagine being able to flick between FriendFeed tabs where one of those tabs offers an iGoogle feature set? The tech isn’t that hard (I’ve actually looked at buying a $399 script that does this sort of site off the shelf) and the widgets themselves use the open standard championed by Netvibes. It would be a nice value add for FriendFeed that could easily find favor.

If you could add things to FriendFeed, what would they be?

My FriendFeed Wishlist is a post from: The Inquisitr

Feedalizr at its core is a simple to use, clean and beautiful FriendFeed application. Setup is easy, and users immediately get access to the latest from their FriendFeed. Filtering is available from the top of the app, and users can also send Twitter messages as well. Where Feedalizr excels is built in support for posting to Flickr and posting video; it wasn’t clear where the video was stored but it would appear to be a service specifically for Feedalizer users.

There are some areas needing improvement. The application is fat (wide) and takes up to much screen space for my liking. Support for Twitter posting is built in but not Twitter reading (although many will read Twitter via FriendFeed anyway). Customization is non-existent to the point that I couldn’t work out how to get the mic working when trying to record a video; it may just have been me, but there’s no setting option aside from a box to enter your FriendFeed details.

If you’re using FriendFeed and don’t have much of a need for a Twitter client, Feedalizr is most definitely worth a look. It’s still an alpha release so we’d expect to see improved features in the future, but this app is going to win users now based on looks alone in a similar way Twitterific won the hearts and minds early on of Twitter users.

Move Over Twhirl, Alert Thingy, Feedalizr Is In Town is a post from: The Inquisitr

The review doesn’t include every desktop app, only ones that run on a Mac (although I know of only one non-Mac desktop client). Strangely all three are Adobe AIR apps (no Cocoa or similar Mac only app) so all three offer cross platform support.

Twhirl

For: mature Twitter client, highly customizable, one click support for Twitter subpages
Against: renders FriendFeed and Twitter is seperate windows, ugly as sin

Twhirl was one of the first wave of Twitter AIR clients launched in 2007. The app has alway defined itself as providing extra support and when acquired by Loic LeMeur’s Seesmic in April it held the position of most popular Twitter client alongside Mac favorite Twitteriffic. Weeks later the service added support for FriendFeed.

I’d switched to Twhirl a couple of months back (from Twitteriffic) for use with Twitter, and I cant speak highly enough about the feature set, yet there are two aspects that were lacking when I tried to use it as a FriendFeed client as well. The biggest drawback is its insistence that the FriendFeed is rendered in a separate window; this may sound strange to some but even with my twin 22″ monitors, I don’t want more desktop clutter. The simple solution is for Twhirl to offer FriendFeed in tabs within the one window. The second issue is that Twhirl is simply ugly, and it doesn’t make for a appealing user experience. The looks can be customized (and I have), but I found it harder to look pass the ugliness with FriendFeed updates than I did with Twitter.

Alert Thingy

For: strong FriendFeed support, mergers Twitter + FriendFeed feeds and natively gets rid of duplicated tweets
Against: lacks avatar support, lacks depth of Twitter functionality

Alert Thingy was the first FriendFeed desktop app and has grown since. The service offers a combined Twitter/ FriendFeed feed that blocks duplicates so you’re not suffering the same Twitter messages twice.

This is a service that deserves love; it’s simple, clean and functional, even if it does lack many of the Twitter features provided by Twhirl. The big negative for a first time user: zero support for avatars. When I use Twitter I look at avatar pictures and I expect them to be there. They aren’t in Alert Thingy. The service also lacks any serious ability to customize how it works, aside from being able to change the color theme.

MySocial AIR

For: Simple, splits streams into tabs, supports video and picture viewing inline
Against: alpha release so occasionally buggy).

MySocial is the newest Twitter/FriendFeed desktop app on the block, although MySocial has previously released a Firefox sidebar addon that offers similar functionality.

Out of the box it’s clean and appealing. Unlike Alert Thingy it supports avatars and the rendering of threads on FriendFeed is visually the best of the three clients our of the box. The downside: like Alert Thingy it lacks many of the additional Twitter functions offered by Twhirl, and as it’s an alpha release it’s still occasionally buggy. It has never crashed for me, but every now and then it does strange things with avatar rendering.

Conclusion
I can see myself using any of these clients in the future, but for now I’ve decided on MySocial, despite the occasional bug. Looks may not be everything, but I don’t want to be straining to read a FriendFeed entry delivered by Twhirl in another window, or look at the blandness of the avatar free Alert Thingy. My bet is we will see better releases from all three in the coming months and I’ll have to revisit this review, but for now MySocial is sitting nicely on my desktop.

Desktop Twitter/FriendFeed Clients Reviewed is a post from: The Inquisitr