I have been experimenting with some desktop apps for using Twitter and Facebook. I am currently at a crossroads for which one is the best for me. The 3 main candidates are TweetDeck, Seesmic Desktop, and Twhirl. All of them are decent but none of them are everything I want.
Tweetdeck has the design I prefer but Twhirl’s design is nice too, Seesmic Desktop is the worst but not that bad. The visual design on all of them is quit functional but does not have any weight on my judgment at this point.
What I am looking for is specific functionality, so I guess I should make a list of what I want my twitter app to do.
Manage Multiple Accounts: Seesmic Desktop wins this category, but Twhirl is not bad if you’re only using Twitter. Seesmic and Twhirl are the 2 of the three that support multiple Twitter accounts, TweetDeck does not.
Integrate with Facebook: This is a more complicated issue. There are a couple of Facebook apps that integrate with your Twitter account. The first one mirrors the two, so all your tweets are posted on Facebook status updates, and vice versa. The second app integrates Twitter into Facebook by allowing you to mirror tweets on Facebook by adding #fb at the beginning of a tweet, not bad but remembering to add #fb is annoying. The first option is simple and easy but I don’t want to annoy Facebook friends with tweets all the time. Plus these apps do nothing in the way of keeping track of both Facebook and Twitter in the same interface.
The only desktop app of the three that does not integrate Facebook is Twhirl. Seesmic Desktop allows you to follow and post to Facebook, but you need to type your update or tweet in the text field, then select from a drop down menu which account you want is sent from, Facebook, or one of your Twitter accounts. Not bad, but if you want to send the same message to multiple accounts then you need to retype or copy/paste and select another account/s from dropdown menu that you want to send it from. Too much work for me.
TweetDeck wins the Facebook integration, it follows your friends Facebook status updates, and if you want to mirror you tweet on Facebook then hit the checkmark box that says Facebook next to it. This does not let you post to only Facebook and not Twitter. Twitter users are more tolerant to multiple posts than Facebook users, so posts targeted to you Facebook friends won’t annoy your Twitter followers.
1 point for Seesmic Desktop, Twhirl gets a point too because they both support multiple Twitter accounts.
1 point Seesmic Desktop, 1 point Twhirl, 1 point Tweetdeck.
All three apps have url shortening built in which is very important so any points in this area are canceled out, probably didn’t even need to mention it.
Last thing is notification of tweet and status updates in the taskbar or system tray. I can’t remember how TweetDeck behaved on this issue; obviously it wasn’t worth remembering so they lose this category. Seesmic Desktop as notifications but they are useless. It shows a little window saying you have an update, that’s it, not by who, not what it’s about, nothing but you have an update, so you need to stop what you’re doing and open the app to read or see what the update is. Twhirl also has a little update window for when its’ minimized, but it gives you the whole tweet. So if you’re doing something else on the ‘puter then you can just glance down and read that tweet. Sadly this is the app that has no Facebook integration.
1 point Seesmic Desktop, 2 point Twhirl, 1 point Tweetdeck.
Twhirl wins but I’m still not happy, I want to follow and update on both Twitter and Facebook. Seesmic Desktop and Tweetdeck both do this and you would think one of them should be the winner. TweetDeck is the best of these because of the convenience of the little checkbox for updating Facebook status, but they do not allow you to logon and follow multiple Twitter accounts. Twhirl has everyting but Facebook integration which is key, yes you can still update Facebook with the #fb method but you can’t follow your friend’s status updates.
As some of this software evolves I may comment on this post, or if I find solutions to some of the problems addressed. Also if you have comments, or solutions or even alternative apps that run on a PC, heck even Mac, (in case my Mac user friends need a similar solution) please leave me a comment.