Twittering, tweeting to some, is about more than just sending 140-character text messages through the Internet. That’s plain to see by a simple look at the various clients vying for the right to make your access to Twitter easier.
These small programs come with many functions and are geared to meet various demands — some people want better coverage, others want ease in reading. Ultimately, the decision usually rest upon whether the Twitter follower accesses the Internet from a PC at home or on the go with a mobile phone or smartphone.
Clients do more than just reproduce Twitter’s web interface. They help save time and clicks, says Nicole Simon, a social media expert and author of a German blog about the Twitter phenomenon.
“And they help you to see everything with one glance: new Tweets, answers and results of specific searches.” As a bonus, they let people post comments simultaneously on other sites like Facebook or MySpace.
Nonetheless, the original Twitter interface remains the favorite, says Manuel Schreiber of Chip, a German computer magazine. But TweetDeck is another widely used tool. “Twitterfeed, which allows a user to publish his comments on Facebook as well, is the most favored client.”
Clients are geared mostly toward PCs. A practical option for an ambitious user is a trimmed-down client like Twhirl, says Sven Wiesner, a social media advisor who also runs a German blog on tweeting. Twhirl sits on a person’s desktop, just like an instant messenger program.
Twhirl includes the functions of any good Twitter client, says Wiesner. Packed with standard functions like uploading photos, picking favorite Tweets and functions like Reply, Retweet or Direct Message at the push of a button, Twhirl also offers a selection of URL shortcuts. It’s also a good idea to opt for customizable notification for incoming replies and direct messages.
Twitter users…