As Twitter’s usage increased recently (scalability issues notwithstanding), so has the invention of new applications to make the Twitter experience more enjoyable. These are the tools for Twitter that I’ve used, as I discovered them, in chronological order:
- Twhirl
Hands down, one of the best user interface client for Twitter. It gives me the ability to see my public timeline, send direct or @reply messages easily. It doesn’t have the ability to view all of archives since there’s a bandwidth limitation with the back-end Twitter API. It’s based on Adobe AIR engine, complete with transparent window. Both client and engine are updated regularly. - Jott
Jott is a neat and unique way to post my tweets. I use it with my cell phone and dictate the words I want to post. I tried doing some tweets when I was in Disney World, and it worked pretty well. Accuracy is only as good as the clarity of my voice over the phone. It can also go to multiple destinations like to my tumblr site, or email. - Twitter Feed
As a way to promote my blog, I use Twitter Feed to automatically announce new blog posts on Twitter. The site uses my RSS feed to figure out what’s new, and it’s configurable how many blog posts to tweet and how often it should scan per day. Some people are against seeing automatic blog announcements, but in my opinion, if it’s done sparingly, it’s OK to do it. Actually, if my headline is catchy enough, people will click on the announced link. I’ve seen it happen. I’ve clicked on a few of my follower’s Twitter Feed’s announcements. - Twitter Verse
This is just a useful site to see what the Twitter “universe” has said recently. It’s sort of a trend discovery tool. Some of the words are NSFW, so be warned. The tweets are searchable all the way back to April 2007. - Friend Feed
FriendFeed is probably the most important discovery I’ve ever made. It’s not built specifically for Twitter, but it enables me to keep track of specific Twitter folks more closely like Robert Scoble and Darren Rowse. It also aggregates recent news from the social media sites that they use, such as StumbleUpon, Digg, or Del.i.cio.us. It’s a great way to discover new sites. The key is to follow the right people in Friend Feed, otherwise it’s just another information overload. - Mosio
I was looking for a way to data-mine Twitter and came across a site that promised to give me answers. Mosio is a cell phone messenger service, sending my text messages to their network, and also Twitter. When I tried it, most of the answers came from their network. It may not be that useful for the Twitter experience, but at least the interface is there, so I’m giving it an honorable mention. - Twitter Fox
@Epiblogger recommended this to me. I like that it doesn’t take too much real estate on my desktop – only on bottom right corner of the Firefox browser. It’s also discreet by popping up new tweets. However, I’ve grown accustomed to Twhirl UI so much, it’s difficult to adapt to Twitter Fox’s UI. It is a lightweight app, so I may just it on my additional laptops in the house. - Tweet Scan
It’s a search engine for Twitter. Very simple interface and quite fast. - Tweet Clouds
Another fun site to find out what my favorite Twitter folks are saying. Check out my Tweet Cloud – it shows who I’ve been @replying to, and the most frequently words that I used. - Twubble
This is a great app made by @crazybob, a Google engineer. It’s a nice way to find new people to follow, based on the existing people I’ve been following. Definitely a unique way to search. Catchy name too. Too bad Bob’s too late to register the domain name for it. - TwitterMail
I use it to post on Twitter via email. The interface will also work with cell phone text messages by sending to a random email address supplied by the site. The @reply functionality is kind of quirky, but I can turn this off via the preference page. - Twitter Local
@Jfhscribbles introduced this to me via his tumblr page. It’s a great way to find local Twitters by using my city or zip code. I found a few that I’ve followed in the Los Angeles/OC area. - Twist
It’s another trend discovery site, but it’s limited to the last few days, so it’s for current topics . Type in a word or two, it will show the line chart of how many tweets use the word(s). It’s useful to determine if the topic I want to discuss is in Twitter recently.
Which one do you use?
Photo Credit: seydoggy
Tags: applications, internet, twitter
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For all you iPhone users — I’ve been using PocketTweets for a long time but found it to be lacking. I recently discovered Hahlo and it’s wonderful — does everything PocketTweets does and more.
Jott seems very cool. I recently heard about it on one of the TWiT podcasts. I’ll have to give it a go.
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I use Twhirl at home and Twitterfox and Twitteroo at work because they have locked down my laptop and I can’t install Twhirl.Twhirl is my favorite but i do like the little Twitterfox alerts.
I also use Twitter Feed for my blog postings and Friend Feed (what’s your Friend Feed link?). I have played around with some others like TwitterVerse, Tweetscan, Twubble, etc. But I do not regularly use those services. I regularly use summize for searching http://twitter.summize.com.
@wildhoney
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Sweet list! Thanks for putting this together! Gave it a thumbs up on StumbleUpon.
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I love Twhirl! Another Adobe Air client is Spaz. It has a slick interface.
http://funkatron.com/spaz
Prior to Twhirl, I used Twitbin in Firefox. It worked nicely too.
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@Rachel:
There is a lot of “search” sites for Twitter. Goes to show there’s a real need to extract useful information from people’s tweets. I predict there’s going to be big competition in this area. May the best one win. I don’t want to rely on Google entirely for searching Twitter posts.
(PS: My Friend Feed is http://friendfeed.com/radix33 )
_
@Tyler:
You’re welcome. Glad to be of service to my Twitter friends.
_
@Angela:
I love Twhirl. The interface is similar to Yahoo IM GUI, so I’m already very familiar with it. Twhirl has just been updated today. Haven’t figured out how what’s new yet, though.
I’ll check out Spaz. Maybe I’ll try the Linux version.
I stumbled this as well, great list! Thanks for the honorable mention of Mosio. There are actually quite a few Twitterers that use it.
The idea is to get an answer to your question, so whether that comes from pure Mosio users or those who use both, we assume people would be happy. We created the Twitter Answers App http://www.twitter.com/qna to make a cool mash up using both services. 🙂
Hi Noel.
Indeed, I’m happy with an answer from any network. Doesn’t matter if it’s from Twitter or not, although in this post context I wish I could use my Twitter followers. I’ll definitely try the Twitter Answers app you mentioned.
Mosio does have a lot of potential and I plan to use it more often.
Thanks for your comment!
Hi Jay.
Whoa, I just noticed your comment was held for moderation since this morning. Sorry about that.
Anyway, the iPhone seems like a good device to Twitter with. You can use it like they illustrated in the Penny Arcade comic. 😉
I’m pooping now.
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That’s Twitter… sometimes just TMI (too much information).
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As @Rachel, I use Summize.com…It’s a great tool for finding out what people talk about issues that interest me 😉
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Am I the only that thinks twitter is stupid? I seriously don’t understand all the buzz. I’m thinking in a couple years twitter might be the posterboy for epic failure on the net.
Not that I’m totally impressed, but this is a lot more than I expected for when I found a link on Digg telling that the info is awesome. Thanks.
Hey Vince,
You’re welcome. I’m glad you find the info useful.
Hey pretty good list, Im currently using tweetdeck to communicate on twitter and I like its ability to track keywords and topics Im interested in. I’ve heard Tweetlater is a great productivity tool as well but haven’t used it yet.
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Very nice list. I like Hootsuite for managing more than one account. I also like Twitter grader to find the top Twitter users in my area.
To be honest, I started using Facebook more now. Twitter still has its purpose to archive my life streams, but in terms of engagement, I get more traction with Facebook.
Ive been using Twitter Fox for a few weeks now and am really impressed. I definitely feel more up to date with my community!
Gracias por compartirlo. Parece interesante, pero me quedan algunas dudas sobre su “pragmatismo”
Hi Rudy! I found your blog while searching for Twitter productivity tools. My comment may be a bit too late but I still want to thank you for sharing these wonderful list of resources. Keep up the good work! 🙂
Hi Rachelle,
You’re welcome! I try my best. 🙂 Thanks for your kind feedback and visit.