Twitter clients
 

What's your preferred Twitter client?

I have been a Twitter user for a long time and back when it was still pretty new and totally free, I installed Twitterific. It even took me a long time to eventually upgrade to version 3 (or maybe it was 2) when they released it, because it was the first one with ads. To be honest, I hadn't really given much thought to Twitter clients in a long time and just got used to Twitterific, even with all the kinks. Recently a friend of mine and I both decided to try the new beta of DestroyTwitter for AdobeAIR and it's so much better than Twitterific that it's not even fair. I have read that lost of clients are actually using that framework and I was wondering what everyone else uses as a desktop Twitter client that they might recommend... maybe even why they would recommend it :D

Why is it better than Twitterific? In general I find AIR applications not very Mac-like so I tend not to use them. However, if there are compelling reasons...

I since I posted this yesterday, I have also tried TweetDeck which is also phenomenally better than Twitterific and also happens to be built in AdobeAIR. I apologize if I inferred that AdobeAIR was a contributing factor because it isn't.

Let's start with the things that I like better about Twitterific. I like the application icon, and the fact that it is accessible from the system tray. The list about stops there.

Both the other clients that I have tried so far have multiple document layer interfaces that allow me to sort my tweets by @-replies, All friends, direct messages, in addition to displaying users' profiles on demand and performing live searches within the UI. They also have built-in support for tweet shrinking, twitpic, URL shortening (TweetDeck allows you to choose which one you want to use), recognize hashtags, and provide autocompletion for usernames when using '@' in a message. Both of them also allow you to configure the intervals that each source will be checked providing live feedback on the amount of allotted API calls you are using. The list really goes on. The interface itself behaves fundamentally the same, the default doesn't even look that different, but the new ones allow you much more freedom in customizing the UI.

AIR applications look and feel completely, utterly alien in Mac OS X. Or any platform, for that matter. GTFO, AIR.

I didn't think that either of the clients I mentioned felt different than their counterpart, Twitterific, that was built for Mac OS. X But there is something else to be said about AIR, XUL, Java, Flash, etc... It is a different architecture, and an architecture which is cross-platform compatible. Perhaps it can help take part in unifying software platforms. As a developer, only having to build and design for one architecture (of my choosing) and having it work across other foreign environments is a very attractive prospect.

I'm sorry though, I did not intend this to become a discussion about whether or not people like AdobeAIR, if there is a Twitter client that is viable and was built for Mac OS X, I'd like to hear your comments on those as well. This thread is interested in finding good recommendations for Twitter clients.

I chose twitterific because the mac people I follow use it, so I figured it must be good.

I agree...let's keep this on topic and I look forward to seeing other Twitter clients discussed.

How long have you been using it? I was sort of in the same boat but that was a long time ago. It was also my understanding that for a long time, that was really the only option anyway. Without any alternatives, I used it... in my opinion... much longer than I should have.

I was going to try out Snitter, Spaz, and Twirl, but a friend of mine said that I shouldn't even bother... that they were too clunky, etc. Anyone tried them?

decent article: http://www.bloggingtips.com/2008/05/27/twitter-clients/

And most of those are AIR clients.

I found the TwitterFox Firefox extension to be convenient for certain types of tweets that dealt with my browsing. It is small and slim, but it lacks some of the more powerful features I have seen in other clients.

I wouldn't have a clue about Twitterific (or Twitter for that matter, just going by the name alone it sounds annoying :) ) but I like IconFactory's IconBuilder plugin if that's any help. I guess it's not that helpful seeing you've decided it sucks relative to the competition :D.

Twitter is a social tool for microblogging. At the highest level, status updates -- life streaming with finer granularity. It is, however, also quite useful as a tool in general, tailored to your needs/activities. I just commented on my friend's breakdown of his usage as: 37% shared feed reader, 15% status updates, 8% chat room, 6% sharing iPhone photos, 4% observational humor, 23% crowdsourcing, 4% stocktwits, 2% citizen journalism, 1% stalking @Fraser.

Getting conflicting recommendations, I tried twhirl and it isn't bad at all. It provides the same interface and functionality in its own way as the others, but also supports other services... albeit for most of which I don't need a client or hook into already automatically.

So instead of once-a-day blog entries of how your day was, you post a twit every time you get up to go to the bathroom?
I honestly can't think of why I would want this... except to make it easier for my stalkers to follow my every move.
"Ok, I'm off to lunch. For the next hour you can find me at Quiznos."
Actually, I just can't imagine that anyone I know would care enough to actually read what I'm doing. Maybe I need more web2.0 friends.

I find Twitter very valuable as part of my workflow, and it is "all about" what I'm posting and the people that I chose to follow are posting. I don't think I've ever seen someone post "going to the bathroom". I exist inside a professional network, tied closely to social services and media on the Internet so part of it largely becomes, as a friend of mine described it, a shared feed reader. It is also very easy to configure it to be useful "to you" -- probably -- but it's better to see it than to describe it. Even if you don't post anything for yourself, "following" people that do post things that are interesting to you can be entertaining or valuable business-wise, depending on what you're going for.

Well, I guess if you're using for work, such as a way to keep multiple contacts up to date on say a project status, I see how it could be useful.

My company firewall blocks it as a "dating" site though, so I couldn't use it for that.

That is unfortunate. I actually think it's funny that they have classified it as a "dating" site. But there are many interfaces to services like "Twitter" -- and Twitter especially: I primarily interface with Twitter through my cell phone. I have an iPhone and there are numerous clients for the iPhone-- not to mention that it's accessible via SMS--and other online services like Brightkite, FriendFeed, and Facebook integrate with it directly also.

But I also did not intend for this to become a discussion about whether or not people can or even want to use it. Just about the clients. I like it and find it useful, but I'm not advertising for them and if you don't like it or use it, that's up to you.

I decided that I don't like TwitterFox. The way that it displays incoming tweets is more of a disturbance than anything and I don't need that, since by the time TwitterFox gets around to showing updates, I've already seen them in my desktop-based client or if it is the case, on my cell phone. The only functionality that I found useful in TwitterFox is actually integrated into and provided by another Firefox extension that I already use and find useful: Glue.

This article is three months old, but I found it this morning. It gives some insight on how to use Twitter effectively: http://punetech.com/why-twitter/

The best twitter client is Pwitter, 'nuff said.

I'll give it a go, I like lots of what I see about Pwitter.

I also found this comprehensive list of Twitter Tools for Firefox on Mashable
http://mashable.com/2009/01/29/twitt...s-for-firefox/

I really like the Web-based TwitterFall - no client to download, but still full featured.

I've recently fallen in love with Twit Menulet. This is a MacOS-native Twitter client that streams tweets constantly in your menu bar.

Actually, I think this app helped me to appreciate Twitter a lot more than I used to. A "tweet ticker" in the menu bar is like a constant little news stream that can be ignored or engaged as the mood suits. The Twitter-doubters above should give Twit Menulet a try.