Thursday, October 27, 2011

Three modern Twitter versions one click away

By: Chris Hogan

Managing News Editor

Nowadays, Twitter has become one of the most essential social media networks and active users have turned to more advanced desktop versions to use tweet daily. Most users operate Twitter by their main site from their site but not many people realize that free applications and social media websites including TweetDeck, Seesmic for Desktop and HootSuite that can help you tweet more effectively and organize your Twitter account to your liking.

1.    TweetDeck (Owned by Twitter and Founded July, 2008).  Website: TweetDeck.com

Positives:  Regarded as the must use Twitter desktop version by many media workers and writers. Provides a clean columnar interface that separates tweets, mentions and direct messages.  Contains an effective twitter feed that is constantly running thoroughly and the gives you the ability to edit incoming or your own tweets. Allows you to access and manage multiple accounts at once and sent your tweets to Facebook as status updates.

Negatives: Doesn't provide a clear cut search tab on the program and can be confusing to manage with the multitude buttons it contains.

                                Tweetdeck Layout

2.    HootSuite (Owned by Invoke Media and Founded December, 2008) Website: Hootsuite.com

Positives: Introduces the most effective and efficient interface with four separate columns that contains tweets, mentions, direct messages and a sent tweets, which TweetDeck doesn't incorporate into their layout. Allows you to connect with other networks consisting of WordPress, LinkedIn, Foursquare and Facebook in one click. Contains a useful twitter search and allocates you to see how many times a day your followers or the people you are following tweet.

Negatives: Can only be accessed when using the Internet. Doesn't provide a constant stream of incoming tweets and you will have to manually click the refresh button to view new updates.

                                          Hootsuite Layout

3.    Seesmic for Desktop (Owned by Loic Le Muir and Founded June, 2008) Website: Seesmic.com

Positives: Functions with a similar columnar layout similar to TweetDeck with a continuous stream of tweets and trending topics. Search button is very accessible at the top right hand corner and it provides a variety of updates from whatever you are searching.

Negatives: When new updates appear an annoying ticking noise alerts you of them. It does it continuously. Doesn't feature an easy navigation method and the font sizes of the tweets can't be customized.

                                 Seesmic for Desktop Layout

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