When the world was younger, and so was Twitter, I became fascinated with selecting the best Twitter client for my several computers.
I first encountered Twitteriffic, which was a lightweight, visually appealing piece of software. It gave you tweeting sounds when you get new messages. You could customize the color scheme. You can even set transparency. It was free, at least for a while (then you could opt to either pay or get ads every few minutes or so).
But it was Mac-only. And in my wide array of computers in my so-called development lab (a.k.a. home office), I only had one Mac. And since it was one of my older machines, it was hardly my main work computer. It wasn’t my most portable computer, either; that honor went to my cutesy little Asus EeePC, the first generation of which ran Linux.
And so on my Windows-powered computers, I had to scour the web for a good client. There was Twitterlicious, Twhirl, and a host of others. They were cute and customizable, too. But in my opinion, none was as solid and lightweight as Twitteriffic. And I had to either install a certain iteration of .NET or Adobe Air to run these pieces of software. I didn’t want overhead bloat! Oh, wait, wasn’t Windows itself just that? At any rate, I just wanted something to run as light as possible.
And this still didn’t address my need to be multi-platform. On my linux machines, I wanted something as easy to install as apt-get, which was, to say, very optimistic on my part. And so I tried Twitterfox, which was an add-on for Firefox, which–you guessed it!–ran on Windows, OS X and even Linux (but of course!).
Twitterfox wasn’t as elegant, though. In hindsight, I wasn’t even sure if it notified you of new tweets. Not that I needed notifying, as the folks I follow post updates ever so often, anyway.
And then it hit me. What if I stuck to just using the Web interface? Twitter clients have this knack for taking over your life. The moment Twitteriffic’s birdies tweet, you get an impulse to open the notification window, if doesn’t pop up automatically already, with your friends’ and their cats’ trivial concerns.
So I’m sticking to the Web client. And when I’m mobile, I don’t bother to use standalone apps, as I also prefer m.twitter.com. I like life simple.
Will I still change my mind? Maybe. Send over some links to cool Twitter clients and I might try them out (and even review them here). But I’d like something that helps me get the most out of microblogging, not something that would take hold of my life. I like life simple.
13 thoughts on “What’s Your Favorite Twitter Client?”
If you use Adobe Air, TweetDeck is excellent (you can integrate Facebook in it, too.)
On the other hand, I hate installing a lot of software in Windows (adding more and more clutter to the system) and I prefer standalone, installation-free programs and portable apps. I have tried TeleTwitter and it’s ok. Very basic, but enough.
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TweetDeck is also my favorite twitter application. It has the same basic functions that all twitter clients have… Like…twitter posting, reading, following and a lots more. One of the least understood features of TweetDeck is the global search function.
Try Posty and Tweetdeck. Both Adobe Air apps. I like the latter better.
l even dont know whats it ok ok, l joke, l think tweekdeck is quiete fine.
http://destroytwitter.com/ – AIR, better than anything else I’ve used, and I’ve pretty much used all the Mac and AIR clients out there. Twitterific is just awful tripe compared to the alternatives available.
My favorite Twitter client is TweetDeck. It’s pretty cool and allows you categorizes followers.
…and it’s light enough on resources and covers a wide range of online social from Twitter to online email to Facebook to IM’s. Fortunately, the program assumes nothing. Install the software, set up your initial Digsby account and then only the services you need to work with in Digsby. For myself I use it for my Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Anyway, works well for me.
Just Google ‘Digsby’ and you’ll find it easy enough.
I use Twirl and occassionally tweetdeck. I’m a simple soul, I confess. However, there are lots of goodies one can accomplish with proactive searches as well…..
Data points, Barbara
I am giving Tweetree a whirl and it seems to work just fine. Allows you to see pics, etc, in stream without clicking on links, now that’s handy!
As a mac user Tweetr is my preferred set up, however I believe there is a PC version now.
I personally use Twhirl. It might be slow and it might lack a few features that other clients provide, but the ones it has work quite well.
I’m madly in love with TweetDeck, if it could cook a decent meal my marriage might even be at risk. 😛
It does take a serious chunk of RAM (it IS an “air” app…), and for best results takes a good bit of space, but it’s well worth it if you have the screen space…or a spare monitor or 2 if possible hehe
And just to get the plug in here…. follow me @bradleclerc
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