Two Twitter Apps Side by Side
March 13th 2009 08:14
It's official, I've been Twitterfied. Er...Twitterpated? Call it what you will, but for the past few days I've been glued to the micro-blogging sensation like a 12 year old boy who stumbles across some porn while searching the web for information on the White House for a school project. (circa 1999, its .gov... NOT .com)
I digress.
I signed up for my account with Twitter clear back in May of last year after hearing about it on Tekzilla, but I wasn't too impressed to begin with. It seemed like a site full of Facebook status updates with none of the other perks. But the rise in media attention sparked my interest as to what all the fuss was about and here I am, a certified addict. Even though I've never considered myself much of a voyeur, (and let's face it, that's what Twiiter fans are) I can't get enough of this site.
Anyone who knows me knows that when I get into something, I dive in all the way. It usually only lasts a short while, (even though the Concerta works fairly well, I think my ADHD still peeks out now and again) but while I'm in, I'm IN. So naturally I went about finding a way to satisfy my addiction without having to use my browser. Any shortcut, however ridiculous, is always a plus. So far, I've found two Adobe AIR-based desktop apps, TweetDeck and Twhirl.
Both are pretty straightforward, easy to use. They both have the same tools for using Twitpic, shortening URLs, TweetDeck only uses bit.ly shortener while Twirl has a couple of options. It's not clear to me yet if this makes a difference. TweetDeck has a dropdown menu for frequently used hashtags, Twirl doesn't that I can see, but again, not really a huge thing.
I haven't found a way to adjust the refresh rate on Twirl, so while running both simultaneously, TweetDeck gets the updates a bit quicker. Unless your obsession has reached critical, possibly fatal levels however, this too should not be a big deal breaker.
Near as I can tell, the biggest difference comes down to aesthetics. TweetDeck allows you to customize the colors of it's UI, while Twhirl sticks you with pastels. TweetDeck only lets you choose between two fonts, where Twirl has all your basic font choices. I haven't found a way to shut off notification sounds on TweetDeck, but you can turn them off on Twhirl.
And that's really it. Personally, I prefer TweetDeck so far, despite the inability to turn off sounds, mostly because I'm more of an Earth-tone person and I don't really care for pastels. And I'm a big Poe fan, so the TD icon reminds me of "The Raven". However, Twhirl lets me use the Georgia font, which is prominently featured in just about anything I can put it in, so that's good. I just like the way it makes numbers look. You're like "That's just like Times!" But then I retort with a little of this...1234567890. Yeah, how 'bout that?
There I go digressin' (and speakin' all apostrophied.)
But, back on track here, really, you just have to decide which one you prefer to stare at. There's no big WOW feature that stuck out to me on either one. Let me know what YOU think though. Try 'em out, give me some feedback. I'll even disagree with you for the sport of it if you'd like.
In the meantime as well, you can follow me on Twitter @ddsmith3. Follow some of my favorites too,
@rustyrockets (Comedian Russell Brand)
@garyvee (The amazing Gary Vaynerchuk)
Speaking of him by the way, there's an amazing video he did that analyzes a clip of Howard Stern hating on the web. Vaynerchuk is who inspired me to get into blogging, he's so right on and so inspirational. Check it out.
@JohnCleese (Monty Python's John Cleese... duh.)
@DAVID_LYNCH (his movies kick ass, and if you wanna know conditions in LA each morning, he's your man)
@lilyroseallen (Lily Allen, her tweets are great)
@quoolquest (Roots drummer QuestLove. Tweets during tapings of Late Night. So cool.)
There's just a few, check my page for more. Also check back for a video I plan on making to accompany this post. Vaynerchuk's got my wheels agrindin'.
I digress.
I signed up for my account with Twitter clear back in May of last year after hearing about it on Tekzilla, but I wasn't too impressed to begin with. It seemed like a site full of Facebook status updates with none of the other perks. But the rise in media attention sparked my interest as to what all the fuss was about and here I am, a certified addict. Even though I've never considered myself much of a voyeur, (and let's face it, that's what Twiiter fans are) I can't get enough of this site.
Both are pretty straightforward, easy to use. They both have the same tools for using Twitpic, shortening URLs, TweetDeck only uses bit.ly shortener while Twirl has a couple of options. It's not clear to me yet if this makes a difference. TweetDeck has a dropdown menu for frequently used hashtags, Twirl doesn't that I can see, but again, not really a huge thing.
I haven't found a way to adjust the refresh rate on Twirl, so while running both simultaneously, TweetDeck gets the updates a bit quicker. Unless your obsession has reached critical, possibly fatal levels however, this too should not be a big deal breaker.
Near as I can tell, the biggest difference comes down to aesthetics. TweetDeck allows you to customize the colors of it's UI, while Twhirl sticks you with pastels. TweetDeck only lets you choose between two fonts, where Twirl has all your basic font choices. I haven't found a way to shut off notification sounds on TweetDeck, but you can turn them off on Twhirl.
And that's really it. Personally, I prefer TweetDeck so far, despite the inability to turn off sounds, mostly because I'm more of an Earth-tone person and I don't really care for pastels. And I'm a big Poe fan, so the TD icon reminds me of "The Raven". However, Twhirl lets me use the Georgia font, which is prominently featured in just about anything I can put it in, so that's good. I just like the way it makes numbers look. You're like "That's just like Times!" But then I retort with a little of this...1234567890. Yeah, how 'bout that?
There I go digressin' (and speakin' all apostrophied.)
But, back on track here, really, you just have to decide which one you prefer to stare at. There's no big WOW feature that stuck out to me on either one. Let me know what YOU think though. Try 'em out, give me some feedback. I'll even disagree with you for the sport of it if you'd like.
In the meantime as well, you can follow me on Twitter @ddsmith3. Follow some of my favorites too,
@rustyrockets (Comedian Russell Brand)
@garyvee (The amazing Gary Vaynerchuk)
Speaking of him by the way, there's an amazing video he did that analyzes a clip of Howard Stern hating on the web. Vaynerchuk is who inspired me to get into blogging, he's so right on and so inspirational. Check it out.
@JohnCleese (Monty Python's John Cleese... duh.)
@DAVID_LYNCH (his movies kick ass, and if you wanna know conditions in LA each morning, he's your man)
@lilyroseallen (Lily Allen, her tweets are great)
@quoolquest (Roots drummer QuestLove. Tweets during tapings of Late Night. So cool.)
There's just a few, check my page for more. Also check back for a video I plan on making to accompany this post. Vaynerchuk's got my wheels agrindin'.
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